Sandra Cam to Congress: Charge corrupt PCSO officials

Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) board member Sandra Cam (PNA photo by Avito C. Dalan)

MANILA— Former whistleblower, now Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) director Sandra Cam on Wednesday urged the Congress to charge corrupt PCSO officials involved in holding a lavish Christmas party in December among acts of corruption within the agency.

“I am appealing to both houses of Congress that after initial investigation to charge the corrupt public officials na walang pakundangan lustayin ang pera ng gobyerno (who have irreverently spent government funds),” Cam said during the Senate hearing on bills meant to update the PCSO charter which also tackled the agency’s PHP10-million Christmas party last month.

Cam also asked PCSO General Manager Alexander Balutan to “give decency” to the perimeter of the PCSO and refrain from pretending as if the public did no know that jueteng (illegal numbers game) continued to operate disguised as small time lottery (STL) games.

She claimed that the government was losing around PHP100 million daily from jueteng when the amount could have been used as revenue for the government.

Meanwhile, Cam also claimed that an unnamed PCSO female consultant was “lording” procurement amounting to less than PHP1 million and was also in charge of procurement of giveaways during the Christmas party.

Cam denied also that she exposed Balutan to steal his post.

“I am not interested in your seat because the President (Rodrigo Duterte) has his own order to me. You have to use your head why I’m there, why the President put me in here. I’m not interested in your seat, I’m interested in your corruption,” Cam told Balutan.

“In line with the policy and directive of the President, I must always be the fiscalizer of and guardian of good governance especially protective to the charity funds,” she added.

Cam said that her responsibility as director was simply to make sure charity funds were fully utilized for the benefit of poorest of the poor.