Inquirer Redux

This is a late post but I just got the picture file of the Inquirer front page that ran a story about PSR on its "ear" - the story on the left side of the logo.

This story was one of the better ones about PSR and it got to the Inquirer front page when I e-mailed it directly to Letty Jimenez Magsanoc and asked her if she was interested in it as an exclusive. Gladly she was, so it ran in PDI as one of their "feel-good-Sunday" stories.

The results were pretty phenomenal. Text volume starting rising immediately and as a result the December Grand Christmas Draw, when PSR gave out P12million in prizes, was a resounding success.

37479197, Housewife, Marikina

It's somewhat comforting to see how settled the routine has become in drawing the PSR weekly winner.

Typically, the big question has to do with who will draw the winner. Usually, Finance Secretary Gary Teves likes to draw the winner entry, at least whenever his schedule permits.

Today, his schedule had an opening at 2 P.M. so the TV crew set up in his Makati office, just as they did two weeks ago.

The process starts with the awarding of last week's winner. After the photo ops with the winner, Sec. Teves, the BIR Commissioners and the PAGCOR representatives all gather around the computer screen. Sec. Teves then starts and stops the electronic tambiolo and announces the winning raffle entry number. A short spiel thereafter and the weekly draw is done.

The crew will then wrap up, quickly edit down the footage into a 15-min. program, burn a DVD and then send off this DVD to ABC 5 studios in Novaliches. The program will be aired shortly after the PBA basketball game tonight, around 10:30 P.M.

Meanwhile, PhilWeb SVP Bobby Mauricio will call the cellphone of the drawn raffle entry number and start the verification process of the official receipt. If all goes well, there should be another millionaire awarded next Friday.

Meanwhile, we're already planning more enhancements to bring added excitement to the program.

An Interview in U.P.

A couple of U.P. students set up an interview on PSR early this morning. There were a lot of questions on the format, what to do, 9777 vs. 9778 ... all the usual basic questions.

Only one or two had heard of the program. None had participated before.

That said, a lot were interested in trying it out. This being U.P., lots of questions were on exactly how PSR helps the BIR and the government.

I told them to check out the websites and watch for the televised weekly draw later tonight on ABC 5.

Another week, another millionaire

PSR version 2007 is settling into a nice pattern. Every Friday, a new millionaire is drawn.

Seems so simple and dependable.

This week, Deputy Commissioner Lilia Guillermo of the BIR came to the PhilWeb office to draw the winning raffle entry number.

We also awarded the P1 million prize to last week's winner, an auditor from the COA. Nice to see a government employee win.

2007: Weekly PSR na!

000031751277

That's the raffle entry number for the new PSR millionaire, which Sec. Teves just drew a few minutes ago.

PSR has moved to a new weekly format, where a new millionaire is drawn every Friday morning. Every so often, the program will have Special Draws offering extra millions, say around Easter or Christmas. The objective is that total prize money for the program will still be the same, on an annual basis.

The draw will be televised tonight on ABC5 at 10:30 PM. Can't wait to see how that rates.

A new record!

1,133,485 raffle entries were given out yesterday, December 19, 2006.

That's the record high number of raffle entries PSR has given out in one day. All is looking good for the Grand Christmas Draw at noon today, when we raffle off P12 million in prizes.

Inquirer's Front Page Today

She thought ‘Premyo Sa Resibo’ P1-M prize a hoax
By Joel Tan
Inquirer
Last updated 01:34am (Mla time) 12/17/2006

Published on page A1 of the December 17, 2006 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
Also on Inq7.net: http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/inquirerheadlines/nation/view_article.php?article_id=38716

MINELA Dolor had never won a raffle. So it was a great leap of faith for her to send a text entry to the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.’s “Premyo sa Resibo” promo.

A month later, Dolor was deluged with calls informing her that she had won a million pesos.

“But I ignored the calls,” she said in an interview during the award ceremonies at the PhilWeb office, promo partner of the BIR and Pagcor.

Premyo Sa Resibo is a nationwide text raffle started by the BIR and Pagcor with the objective of motivating consumers to always ask for a receipt whenever they purchase goods or services.

The program will help boost the tax collection drive campaign of the BIR in plugging billions of pesos in tax leaks due to non-issuance of receipts and misdeclaration of sales.

Consumers simply text in their receipt numbers and they are given raffle numbers which are entered into a monthly raffle. The program, which started in June 2006, has already given out P23 million in prizes.

Dolor attributed her hesitation to her fear of scams and hoaxes. Because of this, the 25-year-old resident of Ilocos Sur almost forfeited her P1-million prize.

Based on the promo rules, winners who fail to claim their money 60 days after a draw date automatically forfeit the prize.

“Actually, I could have just checked the Premyo Sa Resibo website (www.premyosaresibo.com.ph) or called their help line at 338-9777. I would have gotten all the info I needed,” she said, on hindsight.

Fate, however, was smiling on the young woman. A few days before the end of the 60-day period, a distant relative who worked for the BIR dropped by Dolor’s house and told her about her windfall.

Dolor immediately sent word to PhilWeb, the BIR and Pagcor, and prepared for her eight-hour trip to Metro Manila.

“It’s surreal,” she said. “Every day I hear about people winning the lottery, the sweepstakes, raffles at malls, but I’ve never met any of them. Now that I’ve won, I believe.”

Grand prize draw

The Premyo sa Resibo Grand Christmas Draw is on Dec. 20 where another P12 million in prizes will be given out bringing the total cash payout for 2006 to a whopping P35 million. Winners are given 60 days to claim their prizes.

Dolor said she would invest her prize money in a small business, if not in Ilocos Sur, then surely in her parent’s hometown of San Fernando, La Union.

“Since I’m jobless now, I might as well start a small business with the money. The timing couldn’t be more perfect,” she said.

Dolor’s advice to aspiring winners? Temper caution with optimism.

“My hesitation almost cost me a million pesos. I should have at least tried to check if I had won, but I didn’t. I was fortunate someone went out of her way to inform me,” she said.

Joining Premyo Sa Resibo is easy. For details, text PSR HELP to 9777 or call Tel. No. 338-9777.


Copyright 2006 Inquirer. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

Grand Christmas Draw

Of course, we had to take full advantage of Onyok's wife having won in the November Draw. We developed this ad but weren't able to run it more than once.

We found out a week ago that Sec. Teves wouldn't be able to attend the Dec. 1 Draw. After some quick thinking, we decided that the best recourse was to combine the December and January draws into one big, "Grand Christmas Draw."

The second picture is the ad we created for the combined draw, where we basically combined the prizes to get to a whopping P12 million give-away.