Ex-police chief denies taking jueteng payoff

MANILA, Philippines—(UPDATE 2) retired Philippine National Police chief Jesus Verzosa “vehemently denied” accusations that he was the “ultimate recipient” of “jueteng” pay-off, as named in the list submitted by retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz to the Senate Tuesday.

Verzosa, through his lawyer retired police colonel Benjamin Delos Santos, said that the list provided by Cruz was “not legal proof [that he was] accepting ‘jueteng’ payola.”

“It’s just a piece of paper,” Delos Santos said. Verzosa was reportedly out of the country at this time.

Delos Santos said the source of such information is tainted. He said Charlie “Atong” Ang, who was called a “good resource person” for the illegal numbers game, “is reportedly involved in jueteng with STL (small-town lottery) as legal cover for his operations.”

“This whole circus is a war between jueteng lords and STL operators,” he said.

Asked to elaborate, Delos Santos said the allegations linking his client to the illegal activity was “purposely created,” and that anyone who sits as chief of the PNP will be dragged into the illegal numbers game as long as “jueteng” thrives in the country.

In fact, Delos Santos said, Verzosa has even given his “holistic solution…to stop jueteng and its derivatives” to Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo on July 26 and in Congress on September 6.

One of the proposals of Verzosa was to have a so-called gambling summit, which will be attended by police, the National Bureau of Investigation, and even the media to “curb jueteng as a social menace.”

Verzosa also proposed the creation of a national gaming commission that will aim to eradicate all forms of illegal gambling, aside from jueteng.

Asked why Verzosa failed to arrest any jueteng operators during his term as chief PNP, Delos Santos said it was not easy gathering evidence to arrest jueteng operators.

“The reality on the ground, when it comes to our anti-gambling campaign is, those we usually arrest are the cabos and collectors. Gathering evidence to build links between them and jueteng operators is not that simple. We can easily say to arrest this jueteng lord, but we can’t do this without case build-up from the bottom up,” Delos Santos said.

Meanwhile, in a separate interview, another retired general named in Cruz’s list also denied knowledge of the illegal operations.

In a phone interview, retired general Eugene Martin said he did not have knowledge of jueteng operations in his area when he was regional police director of Cordillera in 2007. He also denied receiving jueteng payoffs.

“I don’t know anything about that,” Martin told INQUIRER.net

Martin was a member of Philippine Military Class 1977. He served as Cordillera’s police director for a year. He retired last August.

Abigail Kwok, Phil. Daily Inquirer