Jueteng sneaks back to Vizcaya

BAYOMBONG, Nueva Vizcaya — Just when everybody thought it would stop for good with the controversies it has generated, jueteng has again slowly crept back here.

Earlier this month, local operators of the illegal numbers game attempted to resurrect their illegal business but were not able to last a week, as the police were able to stop them, incidentally in time for the visit of Chief Superintendent Jefferson Soriano, Cagayan Valley police director.

Earlier, Soriano vowed to implement the "one-strike-policy" of the Philippine National Police, where a local police chief is immediately relieved from his post after a successful jueteng raid within his jurisdiction.

Soriano’s warning also somehow prompted the police authorities in neighboring Isabela to get rid of jueteng, which has reportedly been on an "on-and-off" mode in some areas since its operators attempted to resurrect it earlier this month.

However, earlier this week, jueteng has been at it again in some inner barangays in Nueva Vizcaya, gradually sneaking back into the premier towns of Solano, Bambang and Bayombong, the capital town.

Sources said jueteng draws are being held daily inside moving vehicles to elude police detection.

Yesterday morning’s winning combination, for instance, was 6-31, the sources said. The "lucky" numbers in the past days included 27-21; 31-1; 37-27; 32-1; 26-1; and 33-20, they added.

One of the sources claimed that a certain Boy Atena and Boy Palma were behind the resurgence of the illegal numbers game in the province.

Earlier this month, Bayombong Bishop Ramon Villena, a staunch anti-jueteng advocate, warned that he would call the attention of Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz if jueteng would resurface in the province.

Cruz has presented a number of witnesses to the Senate who have alleged that members of the First Family have been recipients of jueteng payola and that jueteng money helped bankrolled cheating in the 2004 presidential elections.