By EUGENE ADIONG
BACOLOD City — Bingo Milyonaryo is legal, insisted an official of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in Negros Occidental.
The PCSO-sanctioned numbers game continuous to operate in the province and this capital city, provincial manager Abegail Reformina said yesterday.
“Bingo Milyonaryo is one of the products of PCSO, like Lotto,” she said in reaction to Mayor Monico Puentevella’s order to the police last week to close down all Bingo Milyonaryo outlets in this city.
Puentevella maintained that the operation of Bingo Milyonaryo here is illegal.
The city hall here never issued any permit for the numbers game because the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) under Secretary Mar Roxas never approved of it, said the mayor.
President Benigno Aquino III had tasked Roxas to look into Bingo Milyonaryo in light of speculations that the game has turned into a side business for illegal gambling lords and political kingpins.
Puentevella said securing a franchise from PCSO is not enough; a franchisee must also acquire a DILG permit before it can operate.
Results of Bingo Milyonaryo is televised every night along with those of Lotto. They are also posted on the official website of PCSO and some national dailies, along with those of other PCSO online games.
Reformina said the three draws of Bingo Milyonaryo are centralized and conducted by PCSO central office in Manila.
“It is legal,” she stressed. “Just like Lotto and Keno, the draws are being made in PCSO central office.”/PN
