News Roundup 02 October 2022
Oct 02, 2022 • 5 min Read
PCSO: 433 people betting on winning lotto numbers not unusual | PHILSTAR.COM – Having more than 400 bettors win the lotto is a happy development, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office said Sunday as it said it found nothing wrong with the coincidence that will make each of the winners more than P500,000 richer. In a press briefing, PCSO General Manager Mel Robles said the sweepstakes office is open to investigation but said they “found nothing wrong” in the Saturday evening draw of the 6/55 Grand Lotto draw on Saturday night where 433 people bet on the winning combination. Robles said it was a “natural occurrence” and that many bettors have number combinations that they “take care of”, or regularly bet on. He added he was glad that the P236-million jackpot will be split among more winners, especially since the holiday season is coming. Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel earlier Sunday said that he would seek hearings at the Senate to check the “integrity” of the lotto draws, which are televised. “We need to make sure that these games have integrity,” he said in a mix of English and Filipino on Super Radyo dzBB. He said that if hearings push through, statisticians will be asked to weigh in while the PCSO will also be given a chance to explain its lotto system. In a separate statement, Sen. Risa Hontiveros — the only other senator in the minority bloc — said she supports Pimentel’s call to investigate the lotto draw. “We just want rule out any doubts in the public mind that the results have been manipulated. While we recognize that people tend to bet in patterns, we also want to make sure the system is secure, free from glitches, and trustworthy,” she said.
Farmers slam Marcos’ reported F1 Singapore weekend after typhoon | PHILSTAR.COM – Reports that President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s went to Singapore over the weekend for the Formula One Grand Prix has prompted criticism from activist groups who said doing so would be insensitive to Filipinos affected by Typhoon Karding and the economic downturn. The Bilyonaryo website reported that the chief executive to Singapore on Saturday evening before the qualifying session. Marcos was in Singapore earlier this month for a state visit. Bilyonaryo’s sister site Politiko also reported that Instagram updates from Rep. Aniela Tolentino (Cavite) showed that Rep. Ferdinand Alexander “Sandro” Marcos (Ilocos Norte) was in Singapore as well. Photos suggesting the president, his son and his cousin House Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez were at the Singapore grand prix have also been circulating on Facebook. Malacañang has yet to comment on the president’s activities. Singapore hosted its first F1 race since the pandemic in 2020, with tickets selling fast and party suites costing up to $70,000 (P4.1 million) a night. Race tickets cost from SG$98 (P4,024) to nearly SG$10,000 (P410,629). Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas (KMP) noted that Marcos Jr. and his entourage are said to be staying at the exclusive F1 Paddock Club, which costs $8,000 (P470,412) for a two-day access pass. “While Filipino farmers are still reeling from the damaging effects of the super typhoon, Marcos Jr. is ‘living the life’ and having a relaxing time abroad,” KMP leader Rafael Mariano said in a statement on Sunday. Meanwhile, Bagong Alyansang Makabayan Secretary General Renato Reyes Jr. called the chief executive’s F1 trip “unnecessary and irresponsible.” “We are in the middle of an economic crisis where inflation will again reach record highs, public debt has breached P13 trillion, and millions of Filipinos are reeling from the effects of typhoon Karding,” Reyes said in a Facebook post on Sunday. Typhoon Karding (international name: Noru), which battered parts of Luzon early last week, affected over a million individuals and left an estimated cost of damage to agriculture worth over P3.076 billion. According to the latest situational report of the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council, the super typhoon also affected 166,630.11 hectares of crops and 104,500 farmers and fishers. Marcos Jr. is concurrently head of the agriculture department. He said the “problem is severe enough” for him to personally steer the department to help address the rising costs of commodities. But following reports of his F1 weekend trip, the chief executive was also criticized for his “partying and leisurely habits.”
Having confidential funds not a DepEd norm – Pimentel | INQUIRER.NET – Opposition Sen. Aquilino Pimentel III urged his fellow senators to realign the P150 million in confidential funds allotted to the Department of Education (DepEd) for its 2023 budget, saying the money could be used to repair schools damaged by Typhoon Karding (international name: Noru) in many parts of Luzon. In seeking the realignment, Pimentel, the minority leader, said in a radio interview on Saturday that even Vice President Sara Duterte, who is also education secretary, was leaving it to the senators to determine how much she should get for confidential expenses. “The P150 million should be transferred because it is not in the practice or culture of DepEd to have confidential funds. This must be placed in items directly related to teaching or learning, not confidential funds and yet, they will claim that it will still be for education,” he said. The P150 million will better serve its purpose if used to buy chairs, tables or build classrooms, Pimentel said. The Senate minority leader made the statement a day after the Senate finance committee endorsed the P710.6-billion DepEd budget, which contains P150 million in confidential funds for the education secretary, Vice President Duterte. Pimentel urged the national government to stop the “practice or culture” in the executive department of having confidential and intelligence funds, which are beyond scrutiny by the Commission on Audit.
