The head of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office defended Friday the poor editing of a photo of the winner of P43-million Lotto 6/42 jackpot, saying the image was meant to conceal the identity of the bettor.

Speaking to TeleRadyo Serbisyo, PCSO General Manager Mel Robles admitted that the photo was edited but said there is a real winner.

"'Yan ay totoong tao, at may recording 'yan sa amin ng picture ng kanyang mukha...hindi naman ito pagandahan ng editing but to conceal the identity. In-edit talaga 'yan para hindi siya makilala," he said.

He added: "Pangit ang editing? Eh di kayo na ho. Ginagawa naman talaga 'yan. Binu-blur pa nga. I don't see ano meron, ano 'yung big deal, kino-conceal naman...we are not after the quality of the editing, hindi naman namin forte 'yan."

"Oo, pangit, inaamin naman namin na pangit. Kayo na nga ang magaling mag-edit. Pero ang objective namin ay maprotektahan dahil buhay ang nakataya diyan."

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Robles said the PCSO had started to edit photos of the winners after one previous winner complained that she was identified because her shirt was clearly visible.

He also said the image was posted late on PCSO's Facebook page as added security for the winner. This also explains why the calendar on the photo showed that the image was taken last year.

"Kailangan late posting kasi kung real time, 'ay siya 'yun.' Baka abangan din siya," he said.

The PCSO chief said he will leave it to lawmakers if they will decide to subpoena the PCSO's files to identify the winners.

He also denied the PCSO lotto draws are rigged, amid concerns that only single bettors have won the multimillion-peso prizes recently.