Batangas vice mayor slain over jueteng profits?

MANILA, Philippines - Talisay, Batangas Vice Mayor Florencio Manimtim Jr. may have been killed as a result of a quarrel over the control of the illegal numbers game jueteng in his town, a police official said yesterday.

“They are killing each other here in Batangas because of the big earnings from jueteng,” the official told The STAR on condition of anonymity.

He claimed jueteng is rampant in Batangas and “it’s an open secret that it has the blessings of local government officials,” adding that the daily bet collection in Talisay town alone could reach P500,000.

As a three-term mayor in Talisay, Manimtim had the final say on jueteng operations in his town but when he slid down to vice mayor in 2007, a new financier took over, the official said.

Manimtim allegedly pushed for an all-out campaign against the new jueteng financier, claiming the funds earned from the illegal gambling game would be used to finance his political rival in the 2013 local elections, the source said.

His anti-jueteng stance earned him the ire of local gambling lords, he added.

Senior Superintendent Federico Castro, deputy chief for operations of the Southern Police District (SPD) and concurrent chief of the Special Investigation Task Group (SITG) Manimtim refused to comment on the issue.

“I have no idea as yet about the jueteng issue. But I assure you, the SITG will look into it,” said Castro when reached by The STAR yesterday.

Castro admitted that money and politics are the motives they are investigating.

Manimtim had just emerged from a restaurant in Pasay City after talking to his election lawyers when a lone assassin shot him with a .45 caliber pistol.

He was rushed to the San Juan de Dios Hospital, where he underwent surgery but died three days later.

Manimtim’s two police escorts are being investigated to determine why they failed to stop the gunman and what authority they have in escorting the local official outside Batangas.