Senate vows no whitewash in ‘jueteng’ probe

MANILA, Philippines—Amid reports that “jueteng” is more entrenched today than during the Arroyo administration, the head of the Senate blue ribbon committee said there would be no whitewash in its probe of the illegal numbers racket.

“Party lines do not count here. The elections are over. Anybody can be charged. The law must be enforced,” Sen. Teofisto “TG” Guingona III, chair of the committee, said Thursday at the weekly “Kapihan sa Senado” forum.

Guingona, who ran under President Benigno Aquino III’s Liberal Party in the May elections, made the statement as someone very close to Mr. Aquino was accused of receiving money from gambling lords.

Jueteng is in the news again after Archbishop Oscar Cruz said over the weekend that seven officials of the Aquino administration, including two who are close to the President, were receiving payoffs from jueteng operators.

Collection of jueteng payola has been taken over by a group of security officials known as the “Three Kings,” according to a junior police officer based in Camp Crame.

Much worse today

Director General Raul Bacalzo, the newly appointed chief of the Philippine National Police, himself is accused of having received money from gambling lords. Bacalzo has denied the allegation.

“It’s worse today, much worse,” former jueteng whistle-blower Sandra Cam told reporters during a meeting with fellow whistle-blowers at the Senate lounge Thursday.

Cam said the draw for the illegal numbers racket was now done four times daily when it was “only two to three times” in the previous administration.

“It’s only President Aquino who can stop jueteng,” she said.

Cam asked the President to put the eradication of jueteng on his priority list, noting it led to the downfall of former President Joseph Estrada and became a scandal during the Arroyo administration.

“I’m challenging him right now—show us your leadership,” Cam said. “What I feel is jueteng has become rampant because (jueteng lords) are not afraid (of the President).”

Palace probe

In Sta. Cruz, Davao del Sur, Mr. Aquino announced Thursday that he had ordered an investigation of reports that some government officials, including some of his trusted men, received jueteng payoffs.

Mr. Aquino said that even before the investigation started, he had made efforts to find out the truth about the alleged involvement of government officials in the numbers racket.

But Mr. Aquino hinted that he personally doubted the veracity of the reports about the jueteng payola because of “uncertain figures.”

“First, they said two of my personal aides were involved. And then five officials. Maybe tomorrow they’ll drag 10 officials already,” he said.

Spare no one

Mr. Aquino said the investigation would spare nobody, including Interior Undersecretary Rico E. Puno. Aquino said he also wanted Puno to explain certain things such as his claim that he got feelers from jueteng operators.

“We will not rest until we get to the bottom of this issue,” the President told reporters in Filipino during his visit to a hydropower plant in Davao del Sur.

Aquino also said he had instructed Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo to do something about the proliferation of jueteng.

Up for grilling

In the Senate, the blue ribbon committee is set to grill Puno and other key officials over jueteng operations.

The committee has also invited Cruz, Robredo, Bacalzo and the police directors in five regions in Luzon where jueteng is allegedly rampant. Cam was invited but said she would not show up, saying the hearing would be “useless.”

Romualdo Quiñones, manager of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office’s special operation department, was invited to report on the Small Town Lottery, which was created to stamp out jueteng.

Cruz to give names

Cruz said he would attend the blue ribbon committee hearing and would name names “depending on how the proceedings would go.”

“If at all, I would reveal the names in executive session,” he told the Inquirer.

A list of jueteng operators prepared by a junior police officer showed that two officials who were getting P2 million a month from gambling lords were among the so-called “Three Kings.”

One of them is a Department of the Interior and Local Government official closely identified with the President, according to the informant, who is being eyed as a witness by Cruz’s Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Jueteng (People’s Crusade Against Jueteng).

Cam attributed the supposedly rampant jueteng operations today to the “laxity” of Mr. Aquino. She said Puno’s name would not have surfaced as among those allegedly receiving jueteng payola without any basis.

Smoke, fire

“If there’s smoke, there is fire,” she said in Filipino. “We checked his background. He was very close to the generals in (Camp) Crame because he was in the gun business.”

Cam, a former jueteng “bag woman,” clarified that she did not directly tag Bacalzo as among the police officials on the take.

She said she merely recalled his name being mentioned as a recipient of jueteng money during the Senate hearings in 2005.

But Cam got furious Thursday when she learned that Bacalzo was ridiculing her account. “Stop talking, General Bacalzo!” she said. “If you want me to shovel up your past, I can do it. Remember I was a bag lady before, so I know my ways. I would know where you are getting your payola.”

Bacalzo on Wednesday said that he could not have received jueteng money because he had been assigned to Camp Crame, the police headquarters, since 2001.

Bacalzo orders crackdown

In the face of the accusations against him, Bacalzo Thursday ordered all 17 police regional directors to intensify their campaign against all forms of illegal gambling, particularly jueteng.

In a memorandum, Bacalzo said the PNP Directorate for Operations would monitor daily the performance of every police provincial and regional office in this special effort.

He also said that police regional directors should submit their respective “comprehensive plan” against illegal gambling in coordination with the local government units and other stakeholders.

Christian Esguerra & Orlando Dinoy, Phil. Daily Inquirer