PCSO Held the 2nd Charity Congress

As a continuing commitment of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to the public, the 2nd PCSO Charity Congress was held on March 5, 2010 at the Quezon City Sports Complex.

Entitled “Towards Increased Responsiveness and Effectiveness of Health Care Services: Streamlining Systems and Procedures and Advancing Volunteerisms as Way of Life”, the 2nd Charity Congress was attended by more than 400 delegates from partner health institutions, government offices, NGOs and people’s organizations nationwide.

PCSO Chairman Sergio Valencia and General Manager Rosario Uriarte present the plaque of appreciation to Dr. Aileen Riego-Javier, NKTI Deputy Executive Director.

PCSO officials and employees, headed by Chairman Sergio Valencia and General Manager Rosario Uriarte, lead the Congress and exchanged ideas and experiences with the participants to come up with better ways of providing more responsive and more effective health care services. National Kidney Transplant Institute’s Deputy Executive Director for Medical Services Dr. Aileen Riego-Javier and Ms. Roda Valenzuela, Social Marketing Head of Caritas Manila also graced the event and shared their knowledge on how to streamline bureaucratic systems and procedures to increase responsiveness of services and the different prospects for institutionalizing partnerships with PCSO, respectively.

Chairman Valencia reported that for the year 2009, the PCSO generated a total of P26.7B income which surpassed the agency’s projection for last year. This was due to the introduction of new games and the improvement of the already existing products of PCSO. Thirty percent (30%) of PCSO’s generated income goes to the Charity Fund which is primarily used on free medical and dental missions, financial assistance to poor Filipinos requiring medical attention, upgrading healthcare facilities, purchase of medical/surgical supplies and equipment, as well as for the construction and renovation of devolved and retained hospitals, municipal health centers, day care centers and private health institutions and NGOs implementing health welfare programs nationwide.

Beneficiary children staying at the CHILD House within the PCSO compound perform before the participants of the 2nd PCSO Charity Congress.

The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office also donates quarterly and monthly contributions to charitable institutions engaged in welfare services to the children and youth who are either abandoned or exploited, the elderly and the physically and mentally handicapped. Moreover, PCSO is mandated by laws passed by Congress and presidential issuances to contribute more than P6B from its earnings to government agencies that are implementing programs for underprivileged Filipinos.

GM Uriarte, on the other hand, presented the milestone programs of PCSO in 2009 which included the Charity Caravan in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao, 100% in One Day simultaneous nationwide medical, dental and feeding mission and the Kaibigan ng PCSO program which promotes volunteerism inherent in every Filipino.

PCSO Officers together with some of the delegates from different partner institutions during the 2nd Charity Congress on March 5, 2010 at the Quezon City Sports Complex.

The 2nd PCSO Charity Congress aims to enhance PCSO policy-making by drawing up recommendations from partners, beneficiaries, LGUs and related organizations on Participation, Effectiveness, Responsiveness and Adequacy (PERA) for charity. The event also serves as a forum for charity stakeholders to start working together to spread the “charity virus” and achieve greater impact on beneficiaries and poverty alleviation in the country.

At the end of the day, delegates of the Congress contributed suggestions and proposals to improve systems and procedures in delivering charity services to needy patients. Even if not all questions were answered, the 2nd Charity Congress opened the door for an enhanced medium of communication among the different health care institutions to better serve the public.

In this time of need, the PCSO officers challenged the delegates to face the challenges of reaching out to as many Filipinos who are in dire need of assistance by working together as one family. ***