ROXAS City – A Small Town Lottery operator in Capiz province is employing suspected drug personalities in Maayon town who have turned themselves in to the authorities and promised not to engage in the drug trade again.
The drug surrenderers may work as sales representatives for Five Star Gaming and Entertainment Corp., said STL consultant and general operations manager Alberto “Jojo” Roldan.
Of Maayon’s 32 barangays, 23 were drug-affected, and the town has more than 180 drug surrenderers, said Senior Inspector Valen De Los Santos, municipal police chief.
Drug surrenderers who may be employed by the STL operator were participating in the community-based rehabilitation program conducted by the Maayon police station, said De Los Santos.
Many of them, feeling “ostracized by the community,” need an alternative source of income, the police official said.
STL sales representatives may get promoted to STL supervisor if they can gather recruits, said Roldan.
Sales representatives get a 10-percent share from the total bets they collect and a 5-percent share of the total wins of the winning bettors.
On the other hand, STL supervisors get a 5-percent share of the total bets collected by his sales representatives and a 5-percent share of the total wins.
“Madamo sa aton mga preso kag drug surrenderers ang nabudlayan makakita sang trabaho bangod sang ila nagligad,” Roldan told Panay News.
Employing them as sales representatives is expected to boost income from STL, a numbers game sanctioned by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, said Roldan.
“Being an STL sales representative does not require any capital,” assistant STL consultant Rodney Barrosa said during an orientation with prospective new sale reps at the Maayon municipal hall.
“As long as you know how to write numbers and compute, that’s it, you can be employed,” said Barrosa.
Some of the drug rehab clients present were hired right after the orientation.
If this initiative succeeds, it will be shown to other municipal police stations as a best practice that may be replicated, said De Los Santos./PN
