'STL phase-out not immediate'

MANILA, Philippines - The phase-out of the small town lottery (STL) – as ordered by President Aquino – would be done gradually as existing contracts with STL operators would have to be evaluated first, Malacañang clarified yesterday.

Deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte stressed that what the President meant in his declaration was that STL as an experiment is over. “That’s very clear,” she said.

“Of course, those rights (of operators) will have to be respected. We’re still studying how to achieve a smooth transition. So when the President said that, he didn’t mean right now. Of course, the existing contracts are being considered,” she pointed out.

Valte issued the statement to assuage fears of STL operators of outright cancellation of their contracts with the government.

In ordering the discontinuation of STL, Aquino said the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office, in coordination with Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., the Department of the Interior and Local Government and Department of Justice, is coming up with an alternative numbers game. The STL was originally intended to wean the public away from jueteng, which is illegal.

“STL – as it exists as an experiment – is over,” Aquino told reporters Monday in a chance interview at the gym of the Manuel Enverga University Foundation in Lucena City in Quezon province, where he administered the oath to new members of the ruling Liberal Party.

Aquino’s announcement, meanwhile, drew praises from some lawmakers.

Eastern Samar Rep. Ben Evardone described Aquino’s move as “a bold and decisive action.”

“STL is a mockery because instead of stopping illegal numbers games, particularly jueteng, it turned out to be an effective front of jueteng lords,” Evardone said.

He recalled that when he was still governor of Eastern Samar, a group claiming to represent a jueteng lord offered him P10 million just to approve the application for STL operations in his province.

“Of course I rejected the offer. I believe STL is not an effective tool to stop all illegal numbers games. What is needed is just the political will of LGUs, and law enforcement agencies,” the lawmaker said.

He cited Philippine National Police Director for Eastern Visayas Elmer Soria, who managed to stop illegal gambling in the province.

Zambales Rep. Milagros Magsaysay said STL is the same as jueteng. “They’re the same dog with different collars,” Magsaysay said.

Now in public schools

Anti-jueteng crusader retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, for his part, said that jueteng has already penetrated some public high schools in Central Luzon and Metro Manila.

In a forum organized by the Catholic Media Network (CMN), Cruz said that a few weeks ago he received information that jueteng collectors were soliciting bets from high school students of public schools.

“What breaks my heart is that some three weeks ago, there were jueteng collectors in public schools. They solicit bets from the children, they take their allowance. This is irritating, what happened to the daang matuwid (straight path). I could not understand why jueteng is exempted in the daang matuwid advocacy of the Aquino administration,” Cruz said. There were also reports that jueteng is starting to flourish at a high school in Metro Manila.

Cruz, who founded the Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Jueteng (KBLJ), said that jueteng affects the poor most.

Jueteng operations reportedly earn P45 million to P55 million a day. There are over 30 forms of illegal gambling in the country.

He also expressed belief that newly designated Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Manuel Roxas II would perform well.

“I think he can do it. Now, whether he would receive support or otherwise from higher public officials, I do not know and I don’t think that he should care because in 2016 he would be on his own and he’d better build up his own name,” Cruz said. With Evelyn Macairan, Paolo Romero