LINGAYEN, Pangasinan—Provincial board members are now more careful about endorsing matters concerning gambling operations in Pangasinan as they did not hurriedly pass a resolution involving possible small town lottery (STL) operations in the province.

Learning from its previous “hasty endorsement attempt” for STL
operations last year that prompted Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz to issue a pastoral letter against the provincial legislators, the Sangguniang Panlalawigan the other day deferred the discussion of a resolution regarding this numbers game which became a hot news again this week due to its revival.

Truth is, the board members had their longest one minute recess when there were negotiations left and right among the members whose faces showed feeling of anxiety.

The session which regularly starts at around 1:30 p.m. started an
hour late by its presiding officer, Vice Gov. Oscar Lambino. When the one minute recess was declared by Lambino, the session resumed more than 30 minutes later.

With only two absentees, the matter was discussed first in a closed door meeting by the board members, a process they do when discussing sensitive matters, like financial concerns.

But surprisingly, when they convened, and after the singing the
national anthem was made, fourth district Board Member John Agerico Rosario quietly left the hall for reasons only known to them.

The provincial board members kept mum as to the real reason.

But Lambino said the differing opinions of the board members
regarding lotto concern is a manifestation that democracy is alive in the board.

There were antis, pros and others indifferent about the matter, he said.

Since the measure is likely to face a rough sailing in the board, it
was agreed upon by them that it be referred to a committee hearing. This will take long process, one board member said, because “we somehow felt burnt out for possible consequences again of our actions”.

The bishop might issue again a pastoral letter which will be read
during Sunday Masses, one board member who requested not to be identified, said.

The resolution was entitled,”’ Expressing the sense of the
Sangguniang Panlalawigan against the resurgence of any illegal numbers game in Pangasinan and strongly urging the national government thru the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to institutionalize strict guidelines in its implementation of alternative programs meant to provide livelihood to
Pangasinenses displaced by the eradication of illegal number gaming”.

The resolution was jointly authored by Board Members Amadeo Espino, Nestor Reyes, Rosario and Robert Raymund Estrella Jr.

It said that “the Sangguniang Panlalawigan consistently maintains
that there is no place for illegal gambling in Panagsinan and fully supports all efforts by the national government to eradicate any on all forms of illegal numbers gaming”.

It added that with the eradication of illegal numbers gaming, the
members of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan have been besieged with pleas from many of their constituents for alternative employment of livelihood opportunities for the thousands who used to depend thereon.

The resolution expresses support for the PCSO’s intended program expected to be generated from “the experimental operation of legal gaming”.

It added that they hope that illegal gambling operators in the
province will no longer even attempt to return to their past activities because they would then be easily flushed out by the enforcement authorities.-

The resolution added that “in addition to the limits of law and the
charter of the PCSO, Sangguniang Panlalawigan feels there is a need to institutionalize strict guidelines in the implementation of its intended program to further safeguard the interest of the public in its proposed test run, such as, but not limited to, the transparency of its operations and the designation of credible and qualified permitees”.