An official of the Catholic Church believes that Land Transportations Office (LTO) Assistant Secretary Virginia Torres “should resign” after a CCTV video segment showed her playing at a casino went viral. Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz stressed that Torres must not wait to be ousted, she should voluntarily resign instead. The bishop added that he is saddened upon hearing the news, stressing that government officials should not drag themselves in any gambling-related activities. In 2001 the Office of the President issued a Memorandum Circular No. 8 that prohibits heads of agencies and departments from staying or playing in casinos. Based on the circular, government officials connected directly with the operation of the government; members of the Philippine National Police (PNP), Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP); and persons under 21 years of age are not to stay and/or play at gambling casinos. Also, the circular calls for “all heads of departments, bureaus and offices, government-owned or controlled corporations and local governments, including the PNP and AFP, to remind officials and employees under them regarding this prohibition and to impose appropriate sanctions and penalties in case of violation thereof.” Cruz, on the other hand questioned the “Tuwid na Daan” campaign of the Aquino administration denouncing the president to promote gambling in the country by building more casinos. In a video uploaded on YouTube, the LTO official was caught playing a slot machine at an undisclosed casino. Torres who is known to be a ‘shooting partner’ of the President meanwhile, defended herself saying that she was ‘just reading’ the instructions of the slot machine. In 2010, Torres was appointed by the president as the assistant secretary of the LTO.
Posted on: Sun, 08 Sep 2013 03:09:32 +0000
Trending Topics
Recently Viewed Topics
© 2015