Jueteng is sustained by government?

LETTERS FROM THE AGNO
March Fianza

When Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo took over from President Erap in 2001, there was hope that Jueteng, the illegal numbers game, would go away. The so-called poor man’s game that produced millionaires was in fact the reason for the ouster of Erap.

Thereafter, at least two hearings “in aid of legislation” were conducted in the Senate. Pieces of evidences were brought out by first-hand witnesses directly involved in Jueteng payola.

The witness even linked the First Gentleman to Jueteng and admitted in one of the hearings that she delivered Jueteng money to Mikey Arroyo in the session hall of congress. She also had bank documents to show that money was transferred to the recipients of Jueteng money.

Despite all the answers to questions asked by the senators, apart from the pieces of evidences, no legislation came up out of the two “in aid of legislation” jueteng hearings.

Instead, the hearings could have become the cause in the death of one of the witnesses who was ambushed in February, this year.

Last week, retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz was invited to another Jueteng hearing “in aid of legislation” in Congress. After saying tat he will not attend, he has reconsidered his decision and will attend.

"I’m willing to give it a chance. But this will be the last chance…after this, if nothing happens, then I’ll quit," said Cruz.

In his last visit to Baguio a few weeks after the May elections, PNP Chief Jesus Verzosa who retired last week talked to the media, the religious group, city officials and other sectors about Jueteng.

He said the problem can only be eradicated with all sectors cooperating, especially the local officials and their police chiefs.

While he was saying that, the first thing that came to my mind was that he should make the same statements in Pampanga, the “Vatican” of Jueteng operations and the district represented by GMA in congress.

In less than 24 hours after Director Raul Bacalzo replaced Verzosa as Chief PNP last Tuesday, he gave instructions to the 17 regional police directors, provincial directors, the five district police chiefs ofMetro Manila, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and the Intelligence Group to wage an all-out war against the illegal numbers game.

It was not obeyed. In Pampanga, Jueteng operations went on. In fact it was learned that they hold four bolas in a day, not three. In Quezon City, in the Ilocos, Cagayan Regions and in Baguio and Benguet, the operations did not stop.

Makes me wonder why everytime Malacanang and the police heads make orders to stop Jueteng, operations are intensified instead. It looks like an order to fight illegal gambling, instead serves as the signal for the lowly street policeman to stop apprehending violators.

There are also proposals to legalize Jueteng just because government can not stop it and because legalizing it would contribute to the economy of the country, and that the cabos, kubradores andrebisadores will be legitimately employed. Personally, I think this is wrong.

The proponents should know that legal or illegal gambling per se is already bad and equating whatever monetary gains it fetches for government is not enough to cure the adverse effects it brings to Filipinos.

Why legalize something that is already generally perceived as evil? Government should not legally make an individual dream or hope for a better life by allowing him to place his bets on legalized Jueteng.

If Malacanang will consider the proposal to legalize Jueteng, it means it is not only allowing Filipinos to gamble, it is also convincing Filipinos to gamble. If so, then we will soon have a country with millions of constituents surviving through gambling.

By the way, a good friend of mine who is a high-ranking PNP official said that legalizing Jueteng will not bring assurance that new illegal gambling operators will crop up. He added, the only sure way of stopping the emergence of illegal gambling operators is to “shoot to kill” all known operators of illegal gambling, particularly Jueteng.

He said, “sigurado, walang magrereklamo pag pinatay mo Jueteng operators maliban sa mga asawa’t anak, at matutuwa pa ang mas maraming Pinoy.” (Surely, nobody will complain if you kill the Jueteng operators, except the wife and children, and more Pinoys will be happy).

But the main supporters of Jueteng are in government They are in the governor’s office, mayors and councilors’ offices, the punong barangay’s house, the PNP chief’s camp, the COPs offices all over the country. That is why nobody can stop it. The only means to stop it is for P-Noy to say so and by sacking all of his men that were linked to Jueteng, even if these were mere suspicions. –marchfianza777@yahoo.com