‘Take back jueteng operators’ money’

Payback time.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz dared the government yesterday to seize the millions of pesos collected by jueteng operators to help offset the effects of the crackdown on local economies.

Cruz, who is leading an anti-jueteng crusade, said the seized money should be used to provide alternative livelihoods to people displaced by the campaign against the illegal small-town lotteries.

"Let the government now take back the ill-gotten money of the jueteng lords. Let public authorities retrieve the dirty money received by the jueteng beneficiaries," the influential bishop said in a statement.

"And let all these monies ease the misery of the cobradores and cabos (bet collectors and bet collector supervisors). Give them livelihood. Grant scholarships to their children. Return to them their lost human dignity," read the statement.

Cruz heads an anti-jueteng watchdog, Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Jueteng.

Cruz added that jueteng operators — rather than offering hope or a way out of poverty — merely exploit the poor.

"Payback time has hopefully come to the infamous jueteng lords in the country. They recruited cobradores and cabos to slave for them," he said.

"They inculcated the mentality of chance and spirit of indolence among the simple people. They exploited the poor and the gullible. They enriched themselves with gross greed. They bought protection and silence from chosen local officials and police authorities of power and influence," Cruz said.

He also warned of the dangers of legalizing jueteng, saying "gambling remains gambling no matter how legal it becomes."

"Mere legalization does not change the nature and consequences of vicious realities. Vice does not become a virtue by its mere legalization. This is the truth that does not become a falsehood by human legislation," he said.

"Gambling foments greed for the money of others. It promotes indolence, it cultivates dependence on luck. It seeks quick fortune that never comes. It despises toil and industry that bring productivity. When legalized, jueteng in no way changes its inherent socio-ethical liabilities as gambling," he said.

Legalizing the numbers game is an admission of incompetence by the government and the police, Cruz added.

"When a government takes recourse to gambling to raise public funds, it loses its moral ascendancy to govern. The government might want to know that legalizing abortion, marijuana, child prostitution and other despicable Philippine realities would be a bountiful source of funds for the public coffers. But these simply spell moral bankruptcy of the national leadership."

Earlier, Cruz rejected a claim by the Philippine National Police (PNP) that it had eradicated jueteng in some areas.

He said the renewed government crackdown had only prompted jueteng bosses to resort to "guerrilla" operations.

Chief Superintendent Joel Goltiao, head of the PNP’s police community relations department, said the police receive mobile phone text messages every day from concerned citizens tipping them off on continuing jueteng operations.

"PNP, you said there is no jueteng here in Camarines Norte anymore. Jueteng is operating here nonstop. You are worthless," said one message.

Messages come from as far as the Ilocos Region up north to the Western Visayas to the south, Goltiao said, adding that the messages were forwarded to the concerned regional and provincial police chiefs for action.

Last Monday, a self-confessed jueteng operator, Wilfredo Mayor, told a Senate inquiry that he regularly gave bribes to President Arroyo’s son, Pampanga Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, three other congressmen, national police chief Arturo Lomibao and several other government and police officials.

Arroyo and the others strongly denied the allegations.

The issue of politicians’ alleged involvement in the extremely lucrative jueteng racket has haunted several presidential administrations.

Mrs. Arroyo first took office in 2001 after her predecessor, then-president Joseph Estrada was toppled by a military-backed popular uprising spawned by accusations that he was profiting as a protector of jueteng operations.

Despite repeated government crackdowns, the small-town lotteries continue to thrive because local officials and the police reportedly take bribes and turn a blind eye.

Also, politicians are widely believed to be receiving huge political campaign donations from illegal gambling barons during elections.

The President was loosely linked in the past to an alleged drug baron in her home province of Pampanga, Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda, a compadre of both Mrs. Arroyo and Estrada.

Proposals to legalize jueteng in the past were promptly shot down mainly because of opposition from the influential Roman Catholic Church, which counts 80 percent of Filipinos as its flock.

Proponents say it should be legalized because it is impossible to eradicate and the government could earn taxes from it. They also say it is hypocritical of the government to stamp out jueteng while it operates casinos and lotteries.

Critics say legalizing jueteng promotes a "culture of gambling."

On the other hand, Eladio Pasamba, a jueteng legalization proponent, said "jueteng has been a tradition with Filipinos since time immemorial and will be with us, maybe forever."

Pasamba, a member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan of Quezon, has asked his colleagues to adopt a resolution backing House Bill 1656, authored by Rep. Victor Dominguez.

"Legalizing gambling can bring to the government an enormous financial stream, a huge amelioration fund through which the government can help free the poor from the quagmire of poverty which has been blamed by President Arroyo as the cause of hunger and unrest," Pasamba said.

"Many people who make a living as jueteng collectors have complained that the current government drive has deprived them of their livelihood." — With Cecille Suerte Felipe