Tuesday, March 10, 2015
MANILA. Philippine - Two victims of Typhoon Haiyan, the
powerful storm that hit the central Philippines in 2013, won a total of
74 million pesos in a government-run lottery draw in
late February, a senior official has said.
The two won the jackpot draws
of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) on February 21 and
22, but they claimed their cheques a week after their victories for
security reasons, PCSO head Ferdinand Roxas told Gulf News.
One of the winners, a 59-year
old, took home P50 million after paying P80
to bet on PCSO’s first time six numbers game, Roxas said.
The P50 million winner vowed
that he and his wife would not leave their home in the central
Philippines region, which is still reeling from Typhoon Haiyan’s
devastation.
- “He is also not retiring from his work in a
government office in the central Philippines,” Roxas said, adding the
winner was lucky that Typhoon Haiyan did not damage his home.
- The other winner was a
56-year old Typhoon Haiyan victim who took home P23.68 million from PCSO’s February 21 lottery draw, Roxas said.
- “He requested that his town and province in central Philippines should not be identified,” Rojas said.
- The winner said he wanted to
buy a house for himself and his wife. Along with their children, they
had been residing in Cebu, central Philippines after Typhoon Haiyan hit
Tacloban and Samar provinces, Roxas said.
The winner wanted to invest
in a business but did not divulge details, Roxas said, adding the
typhoon had wrecked the winner’s house and livestock project in 2013.
Both winners separately claimed their checks at PCSO’s office in early March, said Roxas.
PCSO’s lotto winners are not publicly identified because they are exempted from paying taxes.
As of 2011, there were 1,600 winners, according to sources. PCSO launched its lotto in 1995.
Source: Gulf News
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Monday, February 18, 2013
MANILA, Philippines - The government has warned Filipino
women against selling their babies for profit as reports said there had
been several incidents when infants are being offered to childless
couples without undergoing legal adoption procedures.
Social Welfare and
Development Secretary Corazon “Dinky” Soliman said women, no matter how
poor, should not resort to selling their babies as they risk being
charged with violations of the law on Domestic Adoption, Republic Act
8552.
- “We should be alarmed by
reports of babies being sold. This is also a form of birth simulation
which evades the legal adoption process thereby violating RA 8552, an
Act establishing the rules and policies on the domestic adoption of
Filipino children,” Soliman said.
- Earlier, local television aired reports that some poor women are selling their babies for profit.
- A report by the GMA Television Network said
that the sale of infants are so prevalent, especially in poor
communities, that it had already brought about an underground trade.
Some infants are even being
kidnapped in the hospitals and sold to baby traffickers who make a
profit from the sale. There had been cases of infants being sold to
foreigners.
According to
Soliman, there are existing cases of poor pregnant women who are unable
to raise their babies and would offer them to childless couples to
illegally adopt in exchange for a certain amount.
She said that any
person who tampers the birth registration of a child or any physician,
nurse, or health personnel who will collaborate in such an illegal act
shall be guilty of “birth simulation”.
Source: Agency
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Friday, November 25, 2011
Sometimes a peso in the pocket could be worth more than its weight in gold
MANILA, Philippines - A recent report by the Bombo Radyo dzGR from northern Philippines' Tuguegarao said Marlon Manuel, a former official of the Commission on Elections (Comelec) in the town of Amulung in Cagayan, was walking to his home in Leonarda village late at night, when a man with a pistol suddenly approached him and declared a stick up.Caught off guard, Manuel had no choice but to give to the robber the money he had with him which amounted to more than P5,000 ((Dh 423.28).
Not content with the cash, the man demanded that Manuel hand him the laptop he was carrying as well as the licence for a firearm he had in his pocket. The victim refused and at this point, the robber fired off a warning shot to scare Manuel.- The bullet hit Manuel in the leg and all that he could do was close his eyes and anticipate the incoming injury. But to his surprise he felt no pain, instead he found out that the bullet had hit his pocket and glanced off, without injuring him. The thief allowed Manuel to keep the coin as a souvenir. For Manuel, the peso saved something more than its weight in gold — his own skin, literally.
Source: Agency
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