The Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) admitted that the viral photo showing a lotto winner, whom the netizens described as a ‘dressing doll’ due to its poor editing was edited.
In an interview with Unang Hirit, PCSO General Manager Mel Robles it was clarified that the said photo was showing the winner of the 6/42 lotto last December 23 and not the winner of the PHP640-M jackpot prize of the 6/49 Super Lotto.
He also said that they edited the photo uploaded on the PCSO social media pages to protect the winner’s identity.
According to them, they were not allowed to disclose the identity of the winner due to their privacy rights.
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It was understandable as lotto winners were prone to danger as they were holding big amounts of money.
They also prefer not to be identified to avoid being recognized by their friends or relatives who might ask for ‘balato.’
It can be recalled that there were conspiracy theories circulating on social media that PCSO officials were rigging the results of the lotto and bagging the prize money for their own benefit.