Pasig mayor, EPD chief at odds over jueteng raid on alleged collectors

Pasig City Mayor Soledad Eusebio and Eastern Police District director Chief Superintendent Rolando Sacramento are at odds over the exact place where the six jueteng personnel were arrested by EPD operatives last week.

Eusebio quoting a report submitted by SPO4 Neonito Ramos, president of the Pasig "Elite" Police Brotherhood Association Inc., insisted that the raid was done at Barangay San Roque in Marikina City and not in Barangay de la Paz in Pasig City.

"Nakakasira sa amin ’yun. Hindi dapat mangyari ’yan," the lady mayor said referring to the report naming her city as the site of the jueteng raid.

Sacramento admitted that the area where the six jueteng personnel were arrested was in the boundary of the two cities. But he insisted that the suspects were picked up in Pasig City that’s why they filed illegal gambling charges against them before the city’s prosecutor’s office. "Galit lang ’yang si DD (Sacramento) sa hepe ko dahil hindi niya bata," Eusebio told The STAR. She hinted that the negative publicity was hatched to oust Pasig City police chief Senior Superintendent Ernesto Catungal. But Sacramento pointed out that he was only doing his job. He said that Interior Secretary Joey Lina verbally informed him of the continued operations of jueteng in the cities of Marikina and Pasig late last year prompting him to take actions. "There are no personalities involved here. I’m just doing my job and has been commended by Lina himself," said Sacramento.

"Hindi dapat sabihin na hindi ko bata si Catungal. Eh tauhan ko rin naman ’yan kaya’t kailangan ko ring alalayan. Accomplishment namin sa jueteng ’yon at hindi na dapat pag-awayan," clarified Sacramento.

In related developments, the accused made their side, saying, "We are not illegal gamblers and contrary to claims by police investigators, we were arrested in Marikina, not in Pasig City on board our Toyota jeep, and brought to the intelligence investigation division of the Eastern Police District."

This was the assertion of six persons, identified as Robert Cruz, Rolando Sandoval, Edilberto Cruz, Elmer Reyes, Julie Uneta and Glenda Santos, who were arrested on Jan. 22 for collecting jueteng bets inside their jeep in Pasig City. In their sworn counter-affidavit, the accused narrated that they were aboard a Toyota jeep (NDV 769) when two lawmen who they later identified as SPO2 Joselito Beech and PO2 Danilo Damasco arrived, riding in tandem on a motorcycle and in civilian clothes.

Beech reportedly boarded the vehicle, which was parked in front of Abigail Variety Store in J.P. Rizal St., Barangay San Roque, Marikina City. Instead of answering their question why he boarded the jeep, the policeman allegedly ordered Sandoval to drive "straight ahead."

"We were just waiting for Julie Uneta so we would proceed to Parañaque City to attend a party when the policemen arrived," the affidavit, executed last Saturday, stated.

They asked the Pasig City Prosecutor’s Office to dismiss the case lodged against them by the police. "The Marikina Regional Trial Court has jurisdiction over our case."

From J.P. Rizal St., in Marikina City, the six were taken to the EPD headquarters on Caruncho Ave., Pasig City, where Beech reportedly seized their valuables.

The testimonies apparently refuted the EPD’s version of the arrests.

At presstime, Senior Supt. Ernesto Catungal, chief of the Pasig City police, could not be reached for comment.

The suspects added that Beech even instructed them to tell probers that they were apprehended along Marcos Highway, Barangay de la Paz, Pasig City.