THE next  time a neighbor comes to you for help, don’t dismiss him or her because that person may have actually won a lotto jackpot from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

And that was exactly what happened to a government employee, 52, of Pagadian City, Zamboanga del Sur: He won on December 11 the prize money worth P40,230,496.80 in the PCSO draw of Super Lotto 6/49.

However, he is so hard that he could not afford the plane fare from Zamboanga City to Manila for him and his wife so they can claim their big winnings.

PCSO General Manager Jose Ferdinand M. Rojas II said after learning he won the lottery, the state worker went to his neighbors and borrowed money for their plane fare.

“Not one of the neighbors he approached lent them any amount,” said Rojas.

Dejected, the couple then went to another barangay where they finally got some money from a number of good-natured people until they completed the needed  money for their fare, he said.

This is the reason they arrived in Manila only last Thursday, December 15, the PCSO official said.

Rojas said the winner had been placing bets regularly since 1997 in the lotto games. On December 11, he had two System 7 tickets each worth P140 with a total of 14 combination.

One of his bets, which is from family birthdays and ages of their children, matched the winning numbers of 48-18-42-08-21-34, which came with the P40.2 million jackpot.

The couple plans to buy an piece of land for agriculture or farming and invest in a business.