The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) aims to generate PHP52 billion in revenues next year, an official said.

PCSO general manager Royina Marza Garma said that aside from introducing more games in 2020, they will also strengthen their campaign to only patronize legitimate number games.

In a press conference, Garma said their focus next year will be on sales and marketing in order to generate more funds to be able to support more government projects.

Crucial to the plan, she said, is the opening of more provincial branches throughout the country next year. For this purpose, she said they have already started hiring employees for the planned expansion.

Garma said they are currently reviewing the fees and the process in franchise applications to streamline their system.

“The process is complicated and in order to comply with the directive of the President relative to “ease of doing business,” we need to remove other unnecessary requirements and reduce the cash bond needed in the opening of the lotto outlet,” she said.

For instance, Garma said the PHP300,000 cash bond has been reduced to PH200,000 for lotto outlet applicants.

Garma also underscored the importance of PCSO’s Individual Medical Assistance Program (IMAP), which she said occupies the bulk of their personnel’s work.

She cited the PCSO help desk in Southern Philippines Medical Center (SPMC), which she said gets a daily allocation of PHP400,000 while individual recipients receive a daily allocation of PHP1.1 million.

“Our mandate is to generate funds for charity so we will focus on raising more funds for next year,” she said.

She added that 40 percent of the funds that they generate will go to the Universal Health Care to support the PhilHealth insurance of indigents and for the procurement of medical transport vehicles.

Garma encouraged Filipinos to support their products not only to fund the agency’s charitable programs but also support the “Build, Build, Build” infrastructure program of President Rodrigo Duterte. (PNA)