PCSO helps Aklan, opens new branch and more

LAST Saturday it was my pleasure to visit Aklan to present the province, represented by Gov. Florencio Miraflores, with almost P6 million in assistance funds from the fundraising done by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) during the last holiday season.
 

The “Pamaskong Handog ng PCSO: Nine Days of Christmas” last December set aside a certain percentage from lotto tickets sold during a specified period for donation to provinces hardest-hit by Supertyphoon Yolanda (international code name Haiyan).

Meanwhile, PCSO Director Mabel V. Mamba will be in Malaybalay City, Bukidnon, on Monday to open the PCSO’s 38th branch.

This extends the reach of our agency in Northern Mindanao and relieves the residents there of having to travel to Davao City or Cagayan de Oro City, where the PCSO’s older branches in Mindanao are located, to file their medical-assistance requests.

To the initial 25 branches that the PCSO had in 2010, when the current PCSO board under Chairman Margarita Juico came in, we have added 13 branches since 2012, three of those in the first quarter of 2014—Ilocos Norte, Capiz and Bukidnon.

Other branches that might open in the next 12 to 18 months include Catanduanes, Oriental Mindoro, Romblon, Northern Samar, Antique, Zamboanga del Norte, Lanao del Norte and Davao Oriental. The PCSO aims to have a branch in each of the country’s 81 provinces by 2016.

To cut costs and provide more for charity, the PCSO cooperates with local government units (LGUs) for office space on their properties to establish PCSO branches. As of end-2013, 43 percent, or 15 branches, are now on LGU sites rent-free or for a nominal rent of P1 per year, resulting in savings of P6.9 million.

As the government’s charity agency, the PCSO provides valuable and essential services to the public by way of financial assistance for medical- and health care-related needs. Now celebrating its 80th anniversary, the PCSO also holds medical missions; donates ambulances, mobile clinics, medical equipment and medicines; funds hospitals, orphanages and other social-welfare institutions; and provides assistance in times of calamities and national emergencies.

As part of its calamity-relief efforts, the PCSO also distributes relief goods; family emergency-medicine kits; and comfort packs comprising a blanket, sleeping mat and mosquito net that may be used in shelters. The agency has also donated equipment, such as power generators and water-treatment plants. During such times, PCSO employees also lend a helping hand by making personal donations of food, water, clothes and other items for distribution in affected areas.

In order to make these and other services readily accessible to the public, especially to our fellow Filipinos in remote rural areas, the PCSO also has a presence via satellite clinics and rural health units, in addition to its plans of opening more branches nationwide.

How are all these social programs funded? The PCSO generates revenue by holding lottery and other games. In 2013 lotto games earned P29.68 billion, despite the challenges posed by natural calamities, power outages and other externalities.

While lotto and its variants are the PCSO’s most popular games, the agency’s Lotto Express posted 85-percent growth last year and generated P1.9 billion in sales, almost double its 2012 earnings of P1 billion.

To boost revenue growth, the PCSO also plans to expand its Lotto outlet network. In 2013 there were 6,805 outlets, a 15-percent increase from the number of outlets in 2012, while there were 934 Lotto Express outlets, a 75-percent increase from 2012.

To make it easier and more convenient for the public to buy Lotto tickets regularly, the PCSO is in talks with other government agencies, including Philippine Post, the Land Transportation Office and the Armed Forces of the Philippines, to have Lotto outlets within their offices around the country.

Lotto jackpots generate much excitement. The bigger the jackpot, the more people buy tickets, including those who don’t regularly play Lotto. Last July the highest jackpot amount was P178.8 million, which went to one winner. There were three other jackpots higher than P100 million, while seven were between P95 million and P73 million. In total, there were 87 jackpot winners for various lotto games in 2013.

As the PCSO celebrates its 80th year this year—a significant milestone by any standard—we thank the public for their continued trust in and strong support of PCSO games, by which we are able to help our fellow Filipinos and provide hope and care where it is most needed.

Atty. Rojas is the vice chairman and general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

source:  Business Mirror by Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II / Rising Sun