THE residents of the province of Ilocos Sur may now access the services of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) at its branch office in Candon City, which we formally inaugurated on May 18.
It was a trip of nearly five hours from Manila to Candon City Hall, where we were warmly welcomed by Rep. Eric D. Singson of the Second District of Ilocos Sur and Candon City Mayor Ericson G. Singson, MD. We were later joined by Ilocos Sur Vice Gov. Deogracias Victor B. Savellano.
The PCSO Ilocos Sur branch office, headed by Mary Jane Claridad, is located in a large and airy space within the City Hall, lent for free by the city government.
After a Mass and the blessing of the new PCSO office, we turned over two ambulances, one each to Mayor Leopoldo G. Gironella Jr. of the municipality of Salcedo and Mayor Clifford L. Patil-ao of the municipality of Quirino, both in the province.
Also slated to receive ambulances soon are the municipalities of Caoayan, Burgos, Santa Maria and Sinait, as well as the Candon City Hospital.
Candon City itself will be eligible to receive an ambulance in August, given the PCSO’s five-year rule in between ambulance requests.
Under its Ambulance Donation Program, the PCSO gives ambulances to fourth- to sixth-class municipalities for free and to first- to third-class municipalities under a 60/40 cost-sharing scheme.
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HERE’S something interesting I noticed about the Candon City Hall: the building is being developed into a “one-stop shop,” where residents can easily and more conveniently avail themselves of the services of not only the PCSO but other government agencies.
Currently, these are the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration, Philippine Overseas Employment Administration, Department of Labor and Employment, Pag-Ibig Fund, Social Security System,
PhilHealth, Professional Regulation Commission and the Technical Education and Skills Development Authority.
This is an innovative service of the local government unit that is appreciated by the residents of the area.
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THE priest who officiated the Mass and the blessing of the PCSO’s Ilocos Sur branch office was Fr. Reynaldo Rebebes, 44, who also blessed the space at its soft opening sometime ago. When he learned that he was being invited to bless a new PCSO office, he broke into tears, saying that the PCSO was deeply meaningful to him and his family.
He explained further in his homily during the Mass. “My father, Rufino Rebebes, worked for more than 40 years as a sales supervisor for the PCSO,” he said. “I idolized my father, because he was religious and hardworking. He gave us a good life.”
The elder Rebebes sustained his family with his earnings from selling PCSO Sweepstakes tickets. He also managed a team of Sweepstakes ticket vendors in northern Philippines.
“I remember helping my father when I was a child by rubber-stamping the back of Sweepstakes tickets,” recounted Father Rebebes, who is the fifth of six children.
“Because of my father’s hard work, he sold many winning tickets and, in fact, ‘good fortune,’ or swerte, became synonymous with the Rebebes name during that time.”
Father Rebebes’s father died in 1994—“sadly he did not live to see me ordained as a priest”—but his legacy lives on his son, who carries the memory of his father in a special place in his heart.
“I hope [the] PCSO, especially this branch in Ilocos Sur,” he said, “will continue the good work it is doing of helping our less-fortunate kababayan.”
We thank Father Rebebes for being part of a memorable and historical occasion for the PCSO, and we wish him well in his forthcoming assignment to Cervantes, Ilocos Sur.
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LAST weekend we also turned over an ambulance to Naga City (May 22) and six to Albay (May 23), as well as to the Provincial Health Office of Albay. While in Legazpi City, we also attended a gathering of personnel of the 12 branches under the PCSO’s Southern Tagalog and Bicol Region department to celebrate the PCSO’s 80th anniversary. I’ll have more on the PCSO’s activities there next column.
Atty. Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II is vice chairman and general manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.