The Palace on Thursday challenged Sandra Cam, former board member of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, to file charges against corrupt officials after she had announced that she is ready to name high-ranking persons in the agency who were allegedly involved in illegal activities.
“Our position always is if you have any complaint against any particular employee or person relative to the commission of any crime or violation of laws, then file, make a formal complaint,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said.
Earlier, Cam said she has incriminating evidence against officials, which she will present during a legislative probe on the PCSO.
Cam said some of the corrupt officials are members of the PCSO’s Board of Directors and friends of President Rodrigo Duterte.
“I don’t want to preempt the President in naming these people involved. So I have to wait for the upcoming Senate hearing and I am willing to name them with all the documents I kept,” Cam said in a television interview Wednesday.
Panelo assured the public that the investigation on alleged corruption in PCSO will be “fair and impartial.”
The Palace spokesman also reiterated that the operations of the small town lottery were included in the ongoing investigation.
Duterte previously ordered the shutdown of all gaming operations of the PCSO, including lotto, to eradicate “massive corruption” in the agency.
He approved the resumption of lotto operations after a four-day suspension, but the STL and Peryahan ng Bayan remain suspended pending the investigation.
The Palace earlier said Duterte will name about 10 PCSO officials involved in a multi-billion-peso corruption scandal.
In an interview on ANC Headstart, Cam said she believed STL should be transferred to the Games and Amusement Board.
“I think lotto is enough for us,” said Cam, adding that this numbers games is free from corruption because it is automated.
Cam alleged that friends of the President whom he appointed to the PCSO are behind the alleged large-scale corruption involving STL.
“This is about massive corruption inside the PCSO involving retired generals that were being appointed there,” Cam said, noting that many STL operators have failed to remit revenues to the PCSO.