LETTERS FROM THE AGNO

March L. Fianza
The bingoteng of some barangay ‘Kupitanes’

Finally, officers of the Association of Barangay Councils in Baguio City regained consciousness and recognized the “wrong step” they made when they endorsed the operations of ‘bingoteng’ in the barangays. The rest of the members are still “unconscious.”

They also have come to realize lately that the project that some of their past officials flaunted as a very good money-making barangay activity is not generating enough income after all. “Money-making” for the proponents, maybe, but not for all.

According to the association’s own report that came out in newspapers, they earned P113,000 from May to August. I take that as their net income after paying the salaries of their employees and the kubradores, and taking away from the gross all the rest of their operating expenses – including the ‘kupit,’ and others.

The ABC officials cited in their resolution of withdrawal of support that “there is no transparency” on money matters, further citing moral issues. Palma-Urbano Barangay head Albert Reyes earlier warned his colleagues in the association that the ‘bingoteng’ is creating a gap between the members.

“We better stop it because it is causing a division among barangay heads,” he said. At least 60 out of the 128 barangays in Baguio favored ‘bingoteng’ as a source of “livelihood.” The rest of the 68 or more were unsupportive.

But Reyes does not agree. There are other means by which barangays can earn decent income by putting up sari-sari stores, solid waste management and establishing handicraft businesses, among others.

The ABC officials who signed the resolution withdrawing their support for Bingo sa Barangay were William Domoguen of Malcolm Square, vice president Eva Fianza of Happy Homes, Peter Bosaing, Romualdo Ullatan, Michael Perez of Aurora Hill, Benjie Macadangdang of Lower Lourdes and Marvin Binay-an of Camp 7.

With that resolution signed by the ABC officers, anti-gambling groups expect that similar acts of withdrawal by the other barangay heads from the operations of bingoteng in the city snowballs.

I hope this time new COP Willie Franco, a Baguio boy, makes a difference and announces an uncompromising stand to support what the ABC officers have started – even minus a resolution from the barangay. The observation is that newly installed police heads always make familiar lip service speeches about fighting criminality.

By the way, dividing the ‘bingoteng’ proceeds of P113,000.00 among the 60 barangays is equal to a share of P1,883.00 per barangay. Dividing the same proceeds into four months – that is from May to August – will give you P28,250.00 per month. Divide that by 30 days, you get P941.67 per day.

Divide that into three draws per day, you get P313.89 per draw.
If my arithmetic is correct, unless there are profits that not even the ABC members know about, then your Bingo sa Barangay project after paying all expenses, earns a decent income of more than P313 per draw only.

Okay, divide P313.89 by 60 barangays, each draw earns a profit of P5.23 for each of the 60 barangays. Well, bless you and your constituents dear barangay ‘Kupitan.’ Bingoteng is indeed not so lucrative after all, but profitable for a few.

That is just the income contributions from the 60 barangays that supported ‘bingoteng.’ What about the collections of the ‘kubradores’ from ‘tayadores’ in the rest of the 68 barangays and the collections from ‘tayadores’ outside of Baguio? How is that accounted for? Do they also share from the proceeds? Into whose pockets do these collections go? Every ABC member is entitled to know.

The proponents call it Bingo sa Barangay but it does not resemble any good bingo game that we know because the winning tickets have number combinations similar to Jueteng. The manner by which the winning number combinations is picked is also done the Jueteng way. So that many appropriately call it bingoteng.

The proponents justified their project as income generating as it offered opportunities of employment for the kubradores. But that is not a valid reason to allow its operations. Although a line splits the legality of an act and the morality of it, in gambling the end does not justify the means.

Bingoteng has infected the nearby town of La Trinidad and the other barangays of Benguet as well. I was also told that a former barangay official in the city approached some barangay officials in that municipality and proposed a similar operation of bingoteng there.

Somehow, his proposal pushed through, although illegally, as the jueteng kubradores in that town now collect from tayadores number combinations chosen from 1 to 38. Of course, the 16 barangays in La Trinidad do not benefit from the proceeds of bingoteng there. If that is so, then who? – marchfianza777@yahoo.com