A fight over jueteng spoils, solons say

Opposition congressmen said yesterday the fight between Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson and presidential friend Charlie "Atong" Ang "is basically a division of the jueteng spoil gone awry."

"Like all conflicts, this one broke out when the demand for jueteng profits oustripped the supply, resulting in a vicious turf war. It is a case of one erstwhile partner in the jueteng empire resisting the expansionist designs of another," the solons said in a joint statement.

The statement was issued by Minority Leader Feliciano Belmonte Jr. (Lakas, Quezon City), Assistant Minority Leader Michael Defensor (LP, Quezon City), and Representatives Rolando Andaya Jr. (Lakas, Camarines Sur) and Federico Sandoval II (Lakas, Malabon-Navotas).

They said there would have been no jueteng war if the administration’s policy from Day One was to kill jueteng.

"If the policy from the start was to never give any quarter to jueteng, then the nation would not be witnessing today a Mafia-like quarrel being played out in the highest offices of the land, and administration officials would not have been accused of dipping their fingers in the jueteng cookie jar because there would have been none in the first place," they said.

They added that because of jueteng, the administration is now "collapsing like a house of Pagcor cards."

The opposition solons called for an investigation, but one that cannot be rigged and which should unmask those protecting and profiting from jueteng.

For his part, Assistant Minority Leader Raul Gonzalez (NP, Iloilo City) urged the House committee on public order and security to convene immediately and look into Singson’s revelations.

"If Singson is telling the truth, and he claims he has documents to prove his allegations, this could be the worst case of graft and corruption we shall ever know," Gonzalez said in a letter to committee chairman Rep. Roilo Golez (LAMP, Parañaque).

The committee had in the past conducted inquiries into jueteng, but not much in terms of concrete substantial results has been achieved.