By Robert B. Roque, Jr.
The statistical probability of a number combination to be picked in the Grand Lotto 6/55 draw is one in 28,989,675. And last Saturday, that elusive number combination was hit by 433 jackpot winners.
The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s response in its press conference the day after the draw: “It’s a natural occurrence.”
Seriously… as natural as mushrooms growing on dead trees or as natural as Juan Ponce Enrile eating mushrooms off a dead tree?
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Senator Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III, a B.S. Mathematics major before pursuing his law degree and topping the Bar exams, is in utter disbelief over the freak incident of 433 bettors hitting the PCSO’s Grand Lotto jackpot.
He is seeking a Senate investigation into the matter and wants an audit of all of PCSO’s lotto games.
I’m guessing he’s familiar with the fact that the last person who ordered a probe into the credibility of the PCSO lottery – former National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) director Alfredo S. Lim – ended up winning one of the major draws in the middle of the investigation in 1990, collected his winnings, and exonerated the sweepstakes office.
Now, if Pimentel happens to win a lotto jackpot in the middle of this congressional inquiry into PCSO’s games – would that count as a “natural occurrence,” too?
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Is the unprecedented promotion of 57 Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) officials an attempt at indirect bribery to dissuade the tax agency from pursuing the Marcos Family tax liabilities? Is the abused and rotten system of “utang na loob” at play here yet again?
Based on President Junior’s statements, he wants the BIR to recompute his family’s tax liabilities, claiming them to be bloated and misguided since there are certain properties not in their possession that are being taxed against them.
I’d like to hear the opinion of the 57 newly promoted BIR officials on this one!
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On railroading the passage of the P5.268-trillion national budget for 2023, only three congressmen tried to block the measure on account of being bloated by pork barrel funding.
Apparently, most of our lawmakers in the House of Representatives have not learned any lesson from the Janet Napoles story.
I wouldn’t be surprised if Janet finds a new company in the same boat in the same mold and make of kosang Jinggoy, kosang Bong, and kosang Johnny.
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