MANILA, Philippines — Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) Chairman Jose Jorge Corpuz has resigned from his post due to health reasons.
This is according to the press release issued by presidential spokesperson Harry Roque on Friday.
Roque added in his statement that Corpuz “is not the person whom the President said he will fire for corruption.”
Last Thursday, President Rodrigo Duterte, during the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation’s event “Game On! All In! For Nation Building” said he would be firing “another chairman of an entity in government maybe this week,” as well as “maybe 70 or 49 policemen and three generals for corruption.”
Last month, the PCSO, tasked to raise and provide funds for charity, drew controversy after newly designated board member Sandra Cam exposed that the agency had spent around P6 million for its Christmas party at the EDSA Shangri-La.
PCSO General Manager Alexander Balutan said the amount was just part of the Department of Budget and Management-approved original budget of P14 million for the party, and that almost half of the P6 million-fund went to raffle and performance prizes for the employees.
The rest of the saved money would go to a calamity fund for provinces that were affected by Tropical Storm Urduja.
Meanwhile, Corpuz said the the PCSO’s 1,580 employees and their families “deserved” the party after a year of hard work.
He added that “Cam’s brouhaha cannot hide the achievements of PCSO now being enjoyed by the Filipino people, specially the indigents who need medical assistance under the Duterte government.”
He and Balutan said Cam had long wanted them out of the PCSO in order to “usher her longtime friend Atong Ang into the PCSO systems to control STL (small town lottery) nationwide.”
