Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office general manager Alexander Balutan believes there’s an underlying motive behind Sandra Cam’s attacks against the agency.
“It’s about the singer, not the song. Let us look at the quality of the singer, not the song. What’s her motive? What does she wants to happen?” Balutan said in his first press conference for 2018 on Monday.
Cam, who was known as a “jueteng” whistleblower, is a newly appointed PCSO board member, and reports have it that Cam has long been eyeing the agency’s GM position, hence her various attacks, Balutan said.
Last December, she sought a Senate investigation into the agency’s “lavish” Christmas party held at the Edsa Shangri-La Hotel, which allegedly cost about P10 million.
“It’s not about what we ate in Shangri-La, a 5-star hotel, that’s very cheap. That’s not it! It goes beyond; her motive is much deeper than that,” the GM said.
In 2017, PCSO earned nearly P53 billion from its lottery games, compared to P39.56 billion in 2016, Balutan noted.
“It was not just a Christmas Party for close to 1,600 employees, but it was also a ‘yearend’ celebration for our phenomenal success in terms of sales performance. If PCSO was a private sales company with earnings that rose from P39 billion to P52 billion, it was a huge sales performance increase, which is really a cause for big celebration,” said Roger Ramirez, PCSO’s head of human resources.
Ramirez revealed that their approved budget for the event, submitted in 2016, was P14 million, but was reduced further to P11 million, then to P9 million.
But the actual expense for the party was just P6.4 million—P3.3 million for the food and venue reservation, and another P3.1 million for corporate giveaways, raffle prizes, and sectoral presentations, he added.
Ramirez also disclosed that the employees used to enjoy 13th month pay, three months worth of Christmas bonuses, hazard pay, and weekly draw allowances. However, the present PCSO administration under Balutan and resigned chairman Jorge Jose Corpuz yielded to the disallowance issued by the Commission on Audit-—including the Christmas bonuses in 2017.
“I want to emphasize that what we spent was not taken from the people’s taxes, but from the betting public. People who can or have the right to comment on this issue are only those who buy our lotto, who bet on our STLs, or patronize our products,” said Balutan.
Balutan reminded Cam that as board of director is now a government official subject to the rules and regulations of the Civil Service Commission and Governance Commission for GOCCs.
“You are now a government official. You are no longer a whistleblower. There are rules governing government officials, you should act accordingly. You are now a member of the family. Do not bite the hands that feed you,” Balutan told Cam through the media.
Balutan added that PCSO should have “strong” and “united” workforce that marches towards one objective, which they have been trying to protect since day one last year.
However, if Cam continues to attack the agency, it might cause some division and low morale not only to the employees, but also to the betting public, he warned.
“If people lose their trust in us, the betting public might feel the same. Our sales will drop,” said Balutan.