Pangasinan police head warned on jueteng

LINGAYEN, Pangasinan — Fed up with the on-and-off jueteng operations in the province, board members called on the provincial police director to sustain the current stoppage of the illegal numbers game or be relieved.

"If Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina is looking for a police officer who must be relieved because of jueteng, then it must be Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Mendoza if he cannot sustain the stoppage of jueteng in Pangasinan," said Vice Gov. Oscar Lambino, who presides over the provincial board.

Lambino said he got the go-signal of the board members before issuing the stern warning to Mendoza.

He said the halt in jueteng operations in Pangasinan was their gift to President Arroyo on her 55th birthday last Friday. Mrs. Arroyo considers herself a Pangasinense because her late mother, former First Lady Evangelina Macapagal, hailed from Binalonan town.

Lingayen councilor Gilbert Mangapot, however, doubted the resolve of the police to stamp out jueteng, claiming that betting did not stop in the town, which is the provincial capitol and where the provincial police command is located.

"Try to go around the capitol and you will see cobradores collecting bets," he said.

"I have never been a liar. I know whereof I speak because some of my relatives are jueteng aficionados which explains why I get mad at them," he added.

Local newsmen welcomed the news about the supposed stoppage of jueteng in the province following a controversy about some reporters receiving payola from gambling operators.

Some newsmen had admitted receiving grease money, but others accused a "media bagman" of pocketing their share. — With Cesar Ramirez