Gambling lords, jai-alai in turf war; Baguio mayor wants relief of city PNP chief:

BAGUIO CITY – Despite Lenten homilies on the evils of gambling, jueteng has clawed its tentacles on the populace of northern Luzon where the illegal numbers game is now thriving.

According to sources, jueteng is now up and about in northern Luzon as most local officials and police authorities are “on the take or giving protection” to illegal gambling operators.

Religious leaders particularly Archbishop Oscar Cruz also said jueteng wouldn’t operate if government officials are against it.

In the Cordillera, cause-oriented and religious groups including bettors have identified places where jueteng abound like Kalinga, Benguet (the towns of La Trinidad, Tublay, Itogon, Tuba, Buguias and Mankayan) including Baguio.

In the summer capital, Mayor Mauricio Domogan said Tuesday he would ask for the relief of city police chief Senior Supt. David Lacdan if jueteng wouldn’t stop.

Almost all provinces of Region1 (Ilocos) and 2 (Cagayan Valley) are now reportedly also areas where operators are amassing huge profits

In Pangasinan, there is now a turf war between jueteng lords and jai-alai operator Meridien Vista Gaming Corp. with National Bureau of Investigation operatives saying they are caught in the middle.

The people behind the “slanted report” denouncing the NBI and its operatives, according to the bureau, are the people also behind the jueteng operations and their financiers who were gravely affected by operations against the illegal numbers game.

The NBI said it conducted a discreet investigation into a report received by Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo that Atong Ang, who is reportedly behind Meridien’s operations, allegedly used NBI agents to raid local jueteng dens in Pangasinan and supplanted the numbers game with his own.

The NBI said the probe was in response to the request of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and the president of the League of Governors of the Philippines.

The PCSO said revenues of small town lottery have been affected by illegal gambling.

But Senior Supt. Rosueto Ricaforte, provincial police director, said no two rival groups could operate jueteng here, as “there is no jueteng in Pangasinan in the first place.”

No. 3, 4 cols
Marijuana plants eradicated in Tabuk, Kalinga plantation
TABUK CITY – A marijuana plantation was discovered here last week which resulted eradication of around 1,000 fully grown plants valued at P200,000.

A report said in the afternoon of April 19, at about 5 p.m., a concerned citizen informed police about the plantation intercropped with bushes at Pacak, Agbannawag here near the river bank going to the catch dam of Abut, Quezon, Isabela.

The following day at about 5 a.m. Insp. John Bangcawayan Jr. led a team to the area and invited concerned officials to witness the eradication drive.

The confiscated MJ plants were turned over to provincial police officials in the presence of Randy B. Fangi, barangay official of Agbannawag for proper disposition.