By Jel Santos
Jueteng whistle-blower Sandra Cam, newly appointed board of director of Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), said that out of the 84 Small Town Lottery (STL) outlets nationwide, around 70 are being used as fronts by gambling lords for jueteng operations.
Cam ran as senator before under the banner of President Duterte’s political party PDP-Laban. However, she lost the senatorial race in May 2016 elections.
On Dec 6, Cam took oath along with lawyer Bong Suntay, a former Quezon City councilor. They are vocal supporters of the President. Both of them were appointed by the Chief Executive as directors of PCSO.
“Out of the 84 STL outlets in the country, around 70 are being controlled by gambling lords. They are using STL for their bookies. Only 14 are operating legally,” she said.
She said that gambling lords have returned by using made-up names and corporations to get franchise of STL, saying that Bong Pineda, the husband of Pampanga Gov. Lilia “Baby” Pineda, is controlling about 16 STL outlets.
“One of the jueteng lords is Bong Pineda. He has 16 to 18 STL operations. I am not scared. I know many people here in PCSO are protecting him,” Cam disclosed during a press conference in her office at PCSO yesterday.
“The [other] gambling lords are Ellie Cabayo of Quezon, Don Ramon Preza who is now the Mayor of Tiaong, Quezon, lording over Laguna, and Cesar Reyes in Batangas,” she added.
The pieces of evidence against the alleged gambling lords, according to Cam, will be released soon. She said that she hired agents to investigate the STL franchises in the country.