Lotto sales generate P10 million for flood victims

MANILA, Philippines - The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) announced yesterday that P10.3 million will be taken from the charity fund generated from the recent sales of the 6/45 Mega Lotto online lottery and will be donated to the victims of tropical storm “Ondoy.”

PCSO vice chairman and general manager Rosario Uriarte said that bettors of Mega Lotto who did not win in last Wednesday’s draw with a P92.8-million jackpot have, however, donated to the victims of Ondoy.

PCSO officials did not say how much sales the Mega Lotto draw made, but said the charity fund gets 30 percent from the sales.

A 70-year-old housewife from Quezon City won the latest P92.8-million Mega Lotto jackpot.

Aside from the lone jackpot winner, 69,573 other bettors won consolation prizes with a combined worth of more than P6.2 million for picking between three to five numbers of the winning six-number combination.

The winner, together with her husband, daughter and sister, claimed the jackpot prize Thursday at the PCSO head office in Quezon City.

Uriarte explained that their Board of Directors passed Resolution No. 1618 last Sept. 30 earmarking 30 percent of the charity fund from the Mega Lotto draw for the relief operations.

“At the time, the 6/45 Mega Lotto offered the biggest jackpot prize among our products so the Board decided to share a part of the charity fund from Mega Lotto to typhoon victims,” Uriarte added.

PCSO board chairman Sergio Valencia, Uriarte, directors Manuel Morato, Fatima Valdez, Raymundo Roquero, and Jose Taruc V unanimously approved the resolution.

Uriarte said the PCSO board also approved last Sept. 30 Resolution No. 1619, which earmarked an additional P20-million calamity fund for Operation Sagip-Bayan undertaken by the Office of the President in the aftermath of Ondoy.

The fund was used to purchase of more than 50,000 food packs, 25,000 medicine kits and thousands of sleeping mats, blankets, towels and t-shirts, which were distributed to victims in Metro Manila, Rizal, Bulacan, Pampanga and Laguna.

The PCSO likewise spearheaded the Sagip-Bayan telethon, which was set up last Sept. 30 at the NBN Channel 4 station in Quezon City to accommodate pledges and donations as well as requests for assistance and action from affected families.

The telethon raised more than P119 million and $350,000 from pledges and donations coming from government-owned corporations and concerned individuals.

It also collected relief goods such as groceries, clothes, blankets, slippers, medicine and even timber materials for distribution to typhoon victims.