EDITORIAL - Get the big fish

Give the mayor an A for honesty. Jaws must have dropped in Pampanga when the mayor of Apalit, Tirso Lacanilao, admitted in a radio program the other day that he used to receive from P150,000 to P200,000 a month from jueteng operators, until a renewed crackdown stopped the illegal numbers game. Lacanilao, who called other mayors of the province hypocrites, said his constituents approached him for financial aid in everything from tuition to hospital bills and funeral expenses. With a monthly salary of only P22,000, he said, how could he have coped without jueteng money?

What does the government intend to do with Lacanilao? Apart from an amended law that imposes heavier penalties for illegal gambling, there are laws against corruption that Lacanilao might have broken if he stands by his public statement.

In any campaign against jueteng, however, the government always pussyfoots around public officials – especially the elected ones – but goes hammer and tongs after bet collectors and other foot soldiers of the illegal gambling industry. These foot soldiers are the ones presented to the press as proof that an anti-jueteng campaign is being waged in earnest.

Even top police officials, however, will think twice before presenting to the press a mayor who admits receiving jueteng money regularly. Police officials will also think twice before presenting to the press any of the individuals who have consistently been in the list of the nation’s most notorious jueteng lords, but who have never been convicted of any illegal gambling offense. A major worry for any police officer is that the gambling lord might start identifying everyone in his payroll, and the list is sure to include cops and politicians. The gambling lord might also start naming his favorite charities, and there will be red faces all around.

The government’s ambiguous policy on gambling has always raised accusations of hypocrisy. While operating casinos, the lottery and sweepstakes, which are among the biggest sources of funding for state welfare and charity projects, it refuses to legalize the widely popular jueteng.

Until the government decides once and for all what it wants to do with the numbers game, it can show that the latest campaign is not just another farce by pinning down one or two of those big names in the list of jueteng operators – if not for violation of illegal gambling laws, then for tax evasion and bribery. Graft charges must also be slapped against public officials who are on the take.

The government must stop wasting its energy on poor bet collectors, and instead catch some big fish.