MANILA, Philippines — The Dangerous Drug Board (DDB) on Tuesday lauded the state lottery agency for its contributions to the country’s anti-drug campaign and for being among the government’s lead humanitarian agencies.
This after the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) turned over checks worth PHP67 million to the DDB, Philippine National Police (PNP), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Commission on Higher Education (CHED), and the Philippine Sports Commission (PSC) as part of its mandatory contributions to various partner institutions.
The DDB represented by Undersecretary Earl Saavedra received a check worth PHP9.6 million, the PNP, represented by Lt. Col. Bethzaida Abalos, got PHP25.7 million, while the CHED represented by Supervising Administrative Officer Diana Aguilar got PHP24.67 million, the NBI got PHP6.76 million through Lilibeth Barreto and the PSC with PHP156,616.
Saavedra said the DDB was able to set up 77 drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation facilities at the provincial level through the funds given by the PCSO.
“The PCSO really took the heart its commitment to help in our drug abuse prevention and controlled initiatives. Based on our records from 2016 to 2021, the PCSO gave mandatory contributions without fail as stated in the Comprehensive Dangerous Drug Act 2002. We may have faced challenges but thanks to the funding from PCSO, we used that for maintenance and the operation of drug abuse treatment and rehabilitation of facilities nationwide,” Saavedra told reporters after receiving the checks at the PCSO main office in Mandaluyong City.
Aguilar also thanked PCSO for supporting the state university and colleges through research and extension institutional development scholarship and internationalization of higher education institutions in the entire country to become globally competitive.
PCSO general manager Royina Garma said through its mandatory contributions, the agency does not only help individuals in need of medical assistance but also provides funds to government institutions.
She said PCSO can only sustain its financial commitments to various institutions, such as these mandatory contributions if the agency continues to generate more revenue through its “Larong May Puso” like small town lottery shares (STL), Lotto, Keno and Scratch-It tickets.
Garma urged the public to keep on patronizing PCSO games to generate more funds for health programs, medical assistance and services, and charities.
The PCSO is mandated to set aside 30 percent of its revenue for charity, 55 percent for prizes, and 15 percent for its operation. All balances of any funds in the PCSO will form part of the charity fund.