Palace: No hand in Senate decision to end jueteng probe

MANILA, Philippines –  Malacañang yesterday denied it had a hand in the decision of the Senate to cut short its probe on the jueteng controversy that implicated several trusted appointees and friends of President Aquino.

Presidential Communications Operations Office Secretary Herminio Coloma said the executive department has no business meddling in the activities of the Senate, it being a co-equal branch of government.

“We do not intervene on that because Congress, specifically the Senate, is a co-equal branch of government…The executive branch has no intention to meddle with the activities and the initiatives of the Senate. The senators should do what they think is right,” Coloma said.

Coloma made the statement following the declaration of Sen. Teofisto Guingona III, chairman of the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee, that he does not intend to prolong the investigation and would only invite resource persons to discuss the issue.

Guingona said it would be practically useless to force the personalities involved to appear before the panel since they would only deny the allegations.

In a Senate hearing last week, retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz bared a list that included Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno and former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Jesus Verzosa as alleged beneficiaries of jueteng operators. Cruz had also claimed businessman Tonyboy Cojuangco, the first cousin of President Aquino, tried to persuade him to go easy on the exposés since it might hurt the image of the President.

Cojuangco described Cruz’s list of jueteng beneficiaries as “unsubstantiated.”

Though admitting that the list would not be supported by hard evidence, Cruz stressed this does not mean that it cannot be proven.

“There was no question on whether the list was substantiated or not, if there was hard evidence. Mr. Cojuangco is connected to business and commerce, and asking me about hard evidence is not within his line…He could not ask about this, about judicial evidence because he is not a lawyer,” he said.

Cruz said that by nature, there is no hard evidence to speak of when it comes to jueteng because there is no paper trail, no receipt or voucher.

“There are only eyewitness accounts,” he pointed out.

Cruz, the founder of the group Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Jueteng, said he gave a copy of the list to Cojuangco.

It was the same list that was read during the Senate hearing last Tuesday, he said.

“I gave it to him before I gave it to the Senate so he would know what it is. It’s a kind of a gesture of goodwill towards Noynoy Aquino,” he added.

Asked what Cojuangco said, Cruz said the businessman merely thanked him for the list.

Cruz said he would appear before the Senate next Tuesday to convince the senators on how to get rid of jueteng and expose the irregularities regarding the operation of small town lottery (STL).

“It is easy to get rid of jueteng and number two, that STL is a cover up of jueteng because STL and jueteng are by and large managed by the same jueteng lords,” he said.

On the threat of local officials in Pangasinan led by governor Amado Espino to declare him persona non grata because of his exposés, Cruz welcomed the move.

Espino denied the allegations made by Cruz that he was on the take on jueteng.

Cruz admitted that he doesn’t like Espino. “I don’t like him because he told me there’d be no jueteng when he was campaigning. After he won (as governor), jueteng was all over. Why will I like him?” he said.

While Espino assured the people to expect the same kind of good governance he is giving them, Cruz urged the people of Pangasinan: “If you do not agree with anything that a public servant does, will you please move and do not just talk and look as if you see nothing, you do nothing, you hear nothing?” – Alexis Romero, Evelyn Macairan, Eva Visperas, Manny Galvez