Police Colonel Gemma Vinluan, Cebu City Police Office chief, makes sure that lotto outlets are closed in the city. | Contributed photo
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Some Cebuano lotto and small town lottery bettors in Cebu were saddened by the temporary closure of gaming activities under the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in the country.
However, they also showed their support to President Rodrigo Duterte’s action as a way to address corruption in the PCSO.
Read more: Duterte stops all PCSO gaming activities including lotto, STL
Jean Duyos, 30-year-old sidewalk vendor in Barangay Lahug, Cebu City, said that she was saddened by the closure of the lotto and STL outlets.
She, however, said that she had no choice but to wait until the President would again allow the lotto outlets to open so she could bet another P20 of her earnings in the off chance of winning in the STL.
Milagros Sumagaysay, a 45-year-old eatery owner also in Barangay Lahug, said that she was saddened by the closure because she would no longer experience the thrill of waiting for the lotto results.
Sumagaysay, however, said that although she had not yet won in the lotto game, she bet only when she wanted to and only occasionally for fun.
“Daw lingaw-lingaw lang ba (It’s just for fun),” said Sumagaysay.
Read more: In Photos: Lotto, STL outlets in Cebu City closed
Froilan Consolacion, 44-year-old habal-habal driver or motorcycle for hire driver from Danao City, Cebu, also said that he would occasionally bet on lotto on the off chance that he would win.
Consolacion, however, said that this was all for fun.
He also said that he agreed with President Duterte’s move to clean the PCSO of corruption.
“Okay lang man para ma-ilisan pod ang mga korakot (It’s fine with me, so that all the corrupt officials will be replaced),” Consolacion said.
Yuli Delostico, a 54-year-old Alegria town resident, said that he agreed with President Duterte and supported his move to close temporarily the lotto outlets so that he could clean the PCSO of corruption.
Delostico said that the country would benefit from this.
Duterte in his speech last Friday, July 26, 2019 said that due to “massive corruption” in PCSO he would suspend or terminate all the gambling activities under this branch./dbs