LINGAYEN —The Small Town Lottery (STL) has no place in Pangasinan as Governor Victor E. Agbayani has adopted a wait-and-see-and-learn attitude towards it, in reference to areas or provinces where STL may have already been allowed to operate.

“We have a consistent stand. We would like to support the gains of the crusade of Archbishop (Oscar) Cruz so that if possible the province would not want to have another avenue for gambling,” the Pangasinan governor said.
Cruz is the archbishop of the Lingayen-Dagupan archdiocese and also the founding chairman of the Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Jueteng who had publicly opposed STL, believing that STL is also ‘jueteng’ by another name.

Three companies registered with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) have thus far applied for a franchise from the provincial board for them to operate STL in Pangasinan on an experimental basis.

These are the Logistics Trading and Marketing of Las Piñas City, the Pangasinan World Link Inc. of San Carlos City; and the Anchor Bay Lucky Gaming Corporation of Sta. Barbara, Pangasinan.

Agbayani suggested that these three companies just conduct the STL experiment in other provinces, not in Pangasinan, thus virtually slamming the door on them – for now.

In this case, he said, the province would learn from the experience of other provinces, to know the role that it will play as far as STL is concerned.

But in fairness to those who want to operate STL in the province, the governor promised to look at all the legal requirements of operating the same, aside from the fact that this must be regulated by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

Until these conditions have been satisfied and fully clarified , Agbayani said, it is still “no” to STL in Pangasinan.

The governor recalled that the last time STL was proposed in Pangasinan early this year, there were many provincial board members who supported his stand that STL must not be allowed.

Informed that city and municipal mayors have allegedly met and decided among themselves to endorse STL, Agbayani said they may possibly do this but only in their respective turfs.

But he added that he will still have to validate if legally the municipalities and cities can act on theirown as far as STL is concerned without the concurrence of the provincial board.

“We should verify if a mere resolution from the mayors’ league might be sufficient to let STLoperations continue. But if legally, they can make it run without provincial approval, then what can we do except to do some persuasion”, the governor said.

He said that if on the other hand the operation of the STL is province-wide, then definitely, it has to be the provincial board that will give the franchise.

Even as the provincial board is yet to act on these applications, the guerilla-type of ‘jueteng’ was reported to have already bounced bank in the third and fourth districts of Pangasinan.

STL is supposed to take the place of ‘jueteng’ which, since the beginning, is not giving any income share to the government.