STL IN CEBU CITY
A Manila-based company is offering Cebuanos a legitimate alternative to the illegal numbers game “masiao” with the recent opening of its Small Town Lottery (STL) in Cebu City.
Engineer Reynaldo Sangalang, chairman and general manager of Sinsilyo Corp., said their operation also provides an alternative livelihood to masiao ushers.
“We believe in the program of the government under President (Rodrigo) Duterte. Kasi itong Small Town Lottery is one way of eradicating illegal gambling,” Sangalang said.
He said ushers who work for them will be given the title of sales representatives, identification cards and a vest for their uniform.
Barangay officials helped in their recruitment. A list of barangay sales representatives is then endorsed to the Barangay Affairs Office at City Hall before this can be endorsed to Sinsilyo Corp. for the confirmation of their employment.
When they opened on September 29, Sangalang said they already had 400 sales representatives coming from 25 urban barangays including Mabolo, Guadalupe, Labangon, Talamban, Lahug, Tisa and Punta Princesa, among others.
Sales representatives get an eight percent share of their daily gross income while another two percent goes to their coordinators. The remaining 90 percent of the bets that they collect will be given to Sinsilyo Corp.
The commissions that they are giving to their sales representatives may not be much, but Sangalang said: “you will have dignity of labor.”
“You can already be proud sa trabaho mo. Legal ang trabaho mo,” he said.
With the support of the city’s 80 barangays, Sangalang said he is confident that their presence in Cebu City will eventually lead to the eradication of masiao here.
“I think we can (eradicate masiao) because in the first place, the barangay office is involved in this thing. I’m pretty sure they are going to report this (masiao operations) to the police because we involve them already in this affair,” Sangalang said.
He said that lotto operations in the city did not succeed in eradicating the illegal numbers game because these only involved lotto operators and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).
On the contrary, STL operation is getting support from the barangays, Sangalang said.
“This time, we are involving the barangays. We can also give employment to these people who will be displaced (by our operations),” he added.
Sangalang said their STL outlet located at the ground floor of the APM Centrale in Barangay Mabolo, Cebu City, is the only PCSO recognized STL operation in the city.
Of the four STL outlets in Cebu, they are the only ones who make actual draws at their Mabolo outlet at 11:30 a.m., 4:30 p.m. and 9 p.m. daily. The three other STL outlets are located in Cebu province and the cities of Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu.