With no cash flow and dwindling funds because of the huge amount of resources needed to provide support for the millions of Filipinos who lost their livelihood because of the Enhanced Community Quaratine (ECQ), Congressman Ronnie Ong of the Ang Probinsyano Party-list said the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) should step up to the plate and contribute in generating funds which can be used in the fight against the COVID-19 virus.
Ong, Vice-Chair of the House Committee on Games and Amusement, said that after the PCSO has shut down its operations, it has also stopped generating the much needed funds to help shore up the government’s capacity to respond to the raging health crisis.
According to Ong, although the PCSO really has no choice but to shut down its land based lottery activities such as the Sweepstakes, Scratch-it and Small Town Lottery, it can continue to conduct business by launching secure and fraud-free interactive mobile lottery games.
These interactive and mobile lottery games can go a long way to raise the much-needed cash for the government to support its relief efforts for those who can hardly provide for their daily needs while they are on ECQ.
“Interactive and mobile lottery games can actually be very timely at this time because of the ECQ. Many people are in their homes doing nothing. Instead of wasting money on some online games to fight boredom, they can actually support PCSO lotteries as their way of contributing in the war effort against this unseen enemy,” Ong said.
Ong said that government is losing at least P3.75 Billion per month or P125 Million per day since PCSO decided to stop operations in the light of the ECQ that was declared last March by President Duterte. It is estimated that the PCSO is making at least P15 billion to P16 Billion every quarter from its various lottery operations. Plus the absence of regulated and legal operations have allowed illegal and unregulated gambling to multiply and prosper.
“Even if we can only generate half of the P3.75 Billion monthly revenue of the PCSO, we will be able to provide adequate relief of a lot of communities especially in areas which are on full lockdown. Let us be realistic about the ECQ. Most of the people take their chances outside their homes because they have no food to eat,” Ong said.
Ong said the PCSO can deploy interactive and mobile apps where people can play Sweepstakes, Scratch-it and other forms of lotteries. They can do transactions using various payments schemes such as credit cards, Paypal and virtual wallets like G-Cash, SmartCash, PayMaya and WeChat.
Ong stressed however that the PCSO must make sure adequate top-rated network security safeguards are in place to make sure that their interactive and mobile platform is safe and secure from all possibilities of hacking and other online fraud. This should be urgently considered by PCSO as the market may not recover back even if the ECQ is lifted due to market loss to the illegal and grey market operators. At the very least , funds are being generated rather than none at all.
(HOR-PR)
