The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office is set to summon its authorized Small Town Lottery operator in Albay as part of its investigation of the ambush on the operator’s chairman and a companion in front of a mall in Legazpi City.
PCSO general manager Alexander Balutan said on Wednesday the PCSO is interested to find out if the ambush on Alex Herman Alemania, chairman of Lucky V Prime Enterprises, an Authorized Agent Corporation of the PCSO, had anything to do with STL in Albay.
Alemania died on Monday while being treated at the Albay Doctor’s Hospital for a bullet wound in the stomach, while his female companion is still being treated for the gunshot wounds she sustained from the attackers.
“The summon is part of the investigation of the agency on what is really the root of the incident. This also aims to settle whatever intra-corporate dispute they may have. If the dispute within Lucky V has something to do with this, the PCSO wants it to stop,” Balutan said.
“The PCSO is not discounting any possibility that this has something to do with the internal disputes among its stakeholders, so we are now investigating the case,” Balutan said.
He said if the result of the investigation shows that the ambush was due to the internal dispute, “they have to settle it immediately or PCSO may be forced to take appropriate action against the corporation. It may lose its authorization,” Balutan warned.
The general manager said the PCSO is very strict when it comes to internal disputes among its AACs and will not hesitate to revoke their contract if the dispute is not settled immediately as this would directly affects the operation of expanded STL in the province.
“The PCSO will not tolerate any internal dispute among its AACs as this would greatly affect STL revenues. They are supposed to help us increase our revenues which will be used for PCSO’s charitable services and programs,” Balutan said.
Earlier, the agency threatened to stop Lucky V Prime from its STL operation over its failure to meet its remittance obligations since it started operation last May due to internal problem and misunderstanding among its stakeholders in the corporation.
“If this continues, we will be forced to cancel its permit and hold another bidding to find another licensee,” Balutan said. “They have to comply with the Implementing Rules and Regulations [IRR] to continue to operate the STL.”
