Tony Boy Cojuangco: Absolutely not true! I did not ask the bishop to go easy!

I talked to Tony Boy Cojuangco (currently in New York as part of the business delegation accompanying President Noynoy Aquino) about his name getting dragged into the “jueteng gate,” with revelations coming from retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz who claimed the businessman asked him to “go easy” on DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno. Tony Boy, who arrived in New York ahead of the Presidential party, has not talked with President Aquino regarding the issue, but he detailed to us the context and circumstances of his visit to the archbishop.

Since he knew that Cruz was close to his mother Mrs. Meldy Cojuangco, who is very active in fundraising and other philanthropic activities for the Church, Tony Boy said he sought an audience with the former prelate and went to the latter’s office in Intramuros some time last week before leaving for New York.

“I knew Bishop Cruz and my mother knew each other well, and so I went to see the bishop on my own initiative, for no other reason than to try and help the President in finding out what this list was all about,” said the former TV 5 president. 

‘Between me, God and the President’

“I told the good bishop I’m sure all of us want to help the President get rid of jueteng,” Tony Boy said. After which Cruz agreed to show Tony Boy the list of suspected jueteng lords and operators including government officials allegedly receiving jueteng payola, even telling the businessman, “This is between you, me, God and the President.”

It was a rather long list, with a lot of names that the businessman did not really know or recognize. However, Tony Boy admitted that he was shocked to see the names of former Philippine National Police chief Jesus Verzosa and DILG Undersecretary Rico Puno as among those allegedly receiving jueteng payola.

Tony Boy said he knew Puno very well and being a close and trusted friend of President Noy, he didn’t believe Puno would dare be involved in anything like this. He then asked the archbishop how he obtained the list and whether the latter had evidence that would prove the government official’s links to any of the illegal numbers game operators. The bishop declined to reveal how he obtained the list, simply saying he has his own network of sources and informants covering the operations and that he could not provide the basis for including Puno’s name in the list.

List ‘Useless’

Tony Boy then told the bishop he could not just show the President a list of names without any firm basis or evidence linking them to jueteng. After all, everyone knows Noynoy is not the type who would believe just about any accusation without any proof being provided. If anything, P-Noy is a stickler for due process and his dislike for any unjust accusations stems from his family’s experience in the past.

In any case, Tony Boy told Bishop Cruz: “This is useless.” 

“I absolutely did not ask him to go easy on anyone in that list. I was simply surprised to see the name of Rico Puno, a trusted friend of the President and in fact, we all believe he is the right person who could help the administration stamp out jueteng in this country. I went to see Bishop Cruz only for one purpose, and that is to help the President. If there’s anyone who wants to see Noy succeed, it’s us – his friends and cousins who encouraged him to run for President. We all made a promise to do our part in helping him in any way we can,” he disclosed.

As for the bishop’s statement that the list was just between him, God, Tony Boy, and the President, the businessman said he was actually surprised to find out the prelate exposed it to the public in such a manner, giving the nature of his visit a different color.

At any rate, jueteng will continue to be a big problem unless and until government finds a way to provide the cabos and the kubradors an alternative means of livelihood. There is also a strong suspicion among people within the inner circle of P-Noy that a demolition job has been hatched against targeted government officials and friends known to be close to the President.

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