Lotto pot for charity?

There's this congressman who's proposing capping lotto winnings and contributing the excess to charity. He's saying that lotto with large pots like the current 6/55 pot of almost 700million pesos contributes to a culture of gambling, making people lazy and relying on the elusive luck to pull them out of poverty and even gambling away their food money.

While it may be true that some people do that, it applies to any pot, be it big and small (relatively). There will always be people who gamble, whether legally or illegally. But you don't really see people actually giving up their jobs or their investments on the off chance that they will be "saved" by winning in the lotto. People continue to invest in the usual things, like real estate, stocks, bonds, some buy gold bullions, and others invest in a business of some sort. These do not change just because he/she was tempted to put in a bet at the lotto. People still have sense, ya know.

Truth be told, I'm wary of "having the money contributed to charity". As far as I know, the lotto already has a portion set aside for charity. And, sorry, but I do not have faith in politicians when it comes to money. It is difficult to make a check and balance for "charity", especially when there are people in power who are behind it.

If I do become lucky enough to win, I will give to charity...anonymously. I won't upgrade my lifestyle too much. Maybe just buy a modest house. But I'll still continue to do the work that I am doing.

SSS

Many older Chinese do not really know about social security benefits. My grandfather never collected his retirement benefits from SSS, even if he had contributed for several decades. I am not sure if my grandmother ever collected. I was told that she was entitled to get her benefits AND my grandfather's benefits as well...including interest. It would be substantial, since my grandmother is already 90, which means she has 25 (or 30 years, if you start counting from 60 years old) years of unclaimed retirement benefits. My grandfather passed away 9 years ago at 87, so that's 22 years of unclaimed retirement benefits, not to mention funeral claims and death claims, which my grandmother is entitled to. I don't know if my uncles have helped her with it. Maybe I should ask him.

Even my mom hasn't gotten around to claiming benefits for her own retirement AND my dad's death and funeral claims. I (or one of my brothers) should find time to accompany her to SSS so that she can process her papers. Sayang din yun. I hope it would not be difficult to file her claim. She also has to have her picture taken for her SSS ID since she doesn't have the credit card type ID yet. Hmmm, have to prioritize this.

As for me, I've used mine for my maternity benefits -- once for my H. mole, then when I gave birth to R. Sayang nga I wasn't able to claim when I gave birth to E, because I didn't know about SSS maternity benefits then and unfortunately my brother forgot to put in my contributions that's why I was no longer entitled by that time (grumble). Anyway it was a learning experience so I knew better the next time around.