Liberal Party Rep. Amado Bagatsing of Manila said the proposal is worth studying because if the PCSO is privatized, the bettors might get a better deal.

“But we really have to look at the charity figures first. Maybe the charity fund could be bigger if managed privately. I think there’s a little more of the upside than the downside,” said Bagatsing.

Bagatsing said if the privatization of PCSO will lead to wider and better service delivery to the poor and the disadvantaged, he will fully support the proposal.

The proposal came following claims that the previous PCSO management had allocated a total of P325 million for the period 2008 to 2010 supposedly as “intelligence funds,” and had given seven Roman Catholic bishops motor vehicles for their use.

The intelligence funds were intended to be used for information gathering to curb jueteng, the illegal numbers game that competed directly with the PCSO’s Small Town Lottery, but part of it went instead to pay “blood money” for the release of several jailed migrant workers in the Middle East and for other purposes.

The PCSO mandate is to raise and provide funds for health programs, medical assistance and services, and charities of national character, Bagatsing said.

PCSO conducts charity sweepstakes, races and lotteries and engages in health and welfare-related investments, projects and activities to provide for permanent and continuing sources of funds for its programs. It also undertakes other activities to enhance and expand such fund-generating operations as well as strengthen the agency’s fund-management capabilities.

(Fernan Marasigan)