ILOILO City – A new condition that the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) is imposing on its Small Town Lottery (STL) authorized agent corporations (AACs) may drive its franchisee in Iloilo province to just close shop. “Very difficult,” said Iloilo City councilor and lawyer Rommel Duron, legal counsel of Red Subay Gaming Corp.
The closure could displace an estimated 2,000 Red Subay employees who are mostly STL bet collectors.
The “very difficult” condition Duron was referring to was this: AACs shall deposit to the PCSO a cash bond equivalent to three months of the agency’s share in the guaranteed monthly retail receipts (GMRR) on top of their existing cash bonds.
Red Subay, said Duron, is specifically required to do the following:
* deposit a cash bond of P111 million (equivalent to one month of its presumptive monthly retail receipt or PMRR), and
* deposit P333 million GMRR (equivalent to three months PMRR)
“Imagine kon ano ina kabudlay para sa operator. Tani intindihon nila nga ang operator is only an agent of PSCO so ngaa ginapabudlayan,” said Duron.
On top of those two deposits, Duron said, Red Subay must also sign an agreement with PCSO to pay its P390-million PMRR shortfall covering nine months.
PMRR is the amount determined by PCSO as the presumed minimum monthly sales of an ACC. It should be remitted to PCSO every month.
PCSO imposed the PMRR to ensure that STL operators would not be able to cheat the government on their sales and revenues.
Under Article IX, Section 36 of PCSO’s 2016 revised implementing rules and regulations (IRR) for STL, it is the PCSO’s Board of Directors that determines the PMRR of a particular area. It must take into consideration, among others, the area’s location, population, national and local economic and growth targets and activities.
To determine an ACC’s PMRR, said Duron, 30 percent of the total registered voters in a province/city is multiplied with P2.50 and the result is again multiplied with three (draws).
“Impossible” was how Duron described the PMRR that PCSO set for Red Subay “kay two draws lang gani ang aton ginhimo diri.”
PCSO wanted Red Subay to have three STL draws in a day, but Duron said this would be difficult, citing Iloilo’s wide area and the struggle its bet collectors especially in far-flung areas go through to remit their daily collections before deadline.
He said a “doable” PMRR for Red Subay is P60 million.
According to Duron, of the 80 ACCs across the country, only four have so far complied with the conditions and have resumed their operation after almost a month of suspension. One of the four is the ACCC for the nearby Guimaras island province.
Duron said the Guimaras ACC has a “reachable” PMRR because it is a small province.
He also wondered why Davao, which is as large as Iloilo province, has a PMRR of only P8 million while Iloilo City, only P23 million (reduced from P61 million).
“Amo pa ‘na ang milagro nga dapat e-explain sang PCSO,” said Duron.
On July 27, President Rodrigo Duterte suspended STL citing alleged massive corruption in the PCSO. Nearly a month after, on Aug. 22, PCSO general manager Royina Garma announced that the President had lifted the suspension order on STL.
All AACs that are compliant with the conditions of their STL agency agreement and have been remitting their guaranteed minimum monthly retail receipts may resume operation.
Another condition that PCSO set is this: Upon failure to timely and fully remit their GMMRR during the duration of operations, the AACs’ cash bond equivalent to three months of the PCSO’s share in the GMRR shall be automatically forfeited in favor of PCSO, without prejudice to the other remedies that may be exercised by the government./PN
NASA OPERATOR NG ILOILO SIGURO ANG MY PROBLEMA. PAANU MGA TAONG MAG TRATRABAHO DUN?
Sana naman po kasi sumunod nalang sa mga rules and regulation ng PCSO lahat ng operators ng STL para naman hindi madamay yung mga may good background. Salamat po pala sa CORPORATION na nag bigay samin ng Relief goods.Malaking tulong po ito para saamin.
ANG MAHALAGA PO SA MGAYON AY PUMAYAG NA SI PDU30 SA STL. SANA NAMAN PO AY SUMUNOD ANG MGA OPERATORS SA MGA KUNDISYON PARA MAKABOLA NA AT BUMALIK NA SA NORMAL ANG BUHAY NAMIN.
Maraming salamat po at sa wakas naliwanan na ang lahat at makakabalik na kami sa pag STL sa probinsiya. Di na kaylangan makipagsiksikan sa manila. Marami pong salamat. Sundin nalang ang mga requirements
ANG MAHALAGA PO SA MGAYON AY PUMAYAG NA SI PDU30 SA STL. SANA NAMAN PO AY SUMUNOD ANG MGA OPERATORS SA MGA KUNDISYON PARA MAKABOLA NA AT BUMALIK NA SA NORMAL ANG BUHAY NAMIN.
kawawa naman ang mga tuluyan ng mawawalan ng trabaho..
Bakit hindi nalang po tayo sumunod sa mga gusto nila para hindi na madamay ang mga walang sala. Sobrang dami na naming mahihirap na lalo pang nahihirapan dahil sa wala po kaming trabaho o mapagkuhanan ng pang gastos.
hindi po talaga biro ang halagang hiningi ng PCSO sa mga operators, kaya hindi rin natin sila masisisi kung mahirapan silang sumunod sa gusto ng PCSO. kaya sana naman bigyan sila ng sapat na panahon para magawan ng paraan ang problemang ito. kawawa naman po ang mga cabo, kubrador at mga empleyado ng korporasyon na ito. umaasa po sila na makapagtrabaho silang muli. bigyan po sana sila ng kahit kaunting pag-asa man lang.
Kawawa naman ang mga tao dito na umaasa lang sa stl, kung hindi maiaayos ang problema nila dito. sana po mabigyan din sila ng tulong habang wala ang stl tulad namin na nabigyan ng bigas at de lata, napakalaking tulong po nito sa amin.
naging mahigpit lang ang pcso kaya ginawa yang bagong regulasyon e paano naman kz may mga operator hindi naman compliant.. kung sana nuun pa edi sana hindi na nangyri ang ganyan. anyway para sa mga mahihirap parin ako.. alam ko naman eto lang ang trabaho nila sa stl pero liable naman din ang mga operator kaya nag hihirap sila,