Bishops make own move vs gambling

The Roman Catholic Church will take a more active role to help the government curb jueteng and other forms of illegal gambling, a Church official said yesterday.

Meanwhile, Philippine National Police chief Director General Hermogenes Ebdane Jr. was reportedly disappointed with the results of the police’s anti-jueteng drive, according to a police official, and has ordered the PNP’s Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to step up the campaign.

Hernando Coronel, executive director of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), said Church officials will meet with other religious leaders across the country to discuss the possibility of waging a coordinated campaign.

"We are trying to come up with more concrete plans," he said. He declined to elaborate, saying that it might tip off illegal gambling operators.

Pastoral letters urging the faithful to help in the campaign against illegal gambling will soon be issued to all parishes, Coronel said.

The Philippines is Asia’s bastion of Christianity, with over 80 percent of its population belonging to the influential Roman Catholic Church.

Meanwhile, 78 people were arrested over the weekend in separate raids in the provinces of Bulacan, Nueva Ecija and Rizal by CIDG police officers following Ebdane’s order for an intensified drive against jueteng, a police official said.

"The PNP chief wanted an immediate stop to all jueteng activities in the country at all cost," he said on condition of anonymity, adding that the illegal gambling drive may have forced jueteng rackets to adopt "guerrilla-type" operations.

Ebdane will reassign regional and provincial police chiefs if he is not satisfied by their performance, the official said.

Earlier, Archbishop Orlando Quevedo, president of the CBCP, said the Arroyo administration is not doing enough to curb jueteng despite its crackdown against illegal gambling.

"There is no political will to eradicate the network of gambling in the country," he said in a statement published in a CBCP newsletter. "Jueteng can be eradicated. Political will is needed. When officials and law enforcers are determined to do their duty with a strong political will and do not waver from their sacred task, no matter the threat or the bribe or commission, jueteng would not have a chance."

In June, seven senior police chiefs were sacked by the National Police Commission (Napolcom) for their reported failure to curb jueteng in their jurisdictions.

The seven officers protested their relief and denied they were remiss in their duty.

Interior Secretary Jose Lina, who heads the Napolcom and is leading the government campaign against jueteng, said the sacking was part of President Arroyo’s policy of "command responsibility."

Quevedo said Lina, who has vowed to resign if he fails to curb jueteng in a year, "seems to be a lone voice in the wilderness of officialdom."

Mrs. Arroyo said more police officials would be sacked if jueteng remains rampant.

Despite repeated government campaigns against jueteng by past administrations, the illegal numbers game continues to thrive because local and police officials reportedly take bribes to turn a blind eye.

In mid-2000, then Ilocos Sur governor Luis Singson, an estranged political ally, accused then President Joseph Estrada of collecting millions in bribes from jueteng operators.

Later that year, Estrada became the first sitting Philippine president to be impeached on corruption charges. In January 2001, he was ousted in a military-backed massive protest when the impeachment trial ended in a farce.

He was arrested in April that year and is currently on trial on plunder and other charges. The former actor, who is still popular among the poor for his tough guy movie roles, is being detained in a military hospital in Quezon City. – With Non Alquitran