Luzon now free of ‘jueteng’ ? Sus,what a laugh!

Sunday is supposed to be a day of prayer and rest. Let’s pray then for our beloved country. Under the current administration, we’re a mess. There is no direction, we see no political will being demonstrated by the top – and we’re being heaped with a lot of phoney-baloney propaganda lies.

One of the biggest lies is that "the whole of Luzon is now jueteng-free." This claim is being attributed to Philippine National Police Chief, Director General Arturo C. Lomibao. The conclusion, according to yesterday’s newspaper frontpage stories, was allegedly based on field reports received as of noon Thursday by the PNP chief. These so-called "jueteng-free" certifications were supposedly signed by local chiefs of police, mayors and religious leaders.

Just like that? With a snap of the fingers jueteng simply stopped in Luzon? Nobody betting, nobody collecting? The peddlers of this b.s. must think the people are stupid and will swallow such blarney. Perhaps they’re right. We the people must be so gullible that nobody seems to be giving one pip of protest.

Yet, our friend General Lomibao and retired Col. Lory Diño among others had dinner at home with this writer Friday night, and he candidly admitted his jueteng-free announcement had merely been based on "reports" given him. Lomibao had just come back from a gruelling trip to Mindanao to update himself on the manhunt for the three armed hostage-takers in Pagadian, Zamboanga del Sur, then to Zamboanga, Sibugay, finally a five-hour drive to Cagayan de Oro to confer with Regional Director of PRO10, Police Chief Supt. Dante Tejada (in whose area of responsibility the bus hostage-taking incident had occurred).

Without pausing for rest, Lomibao and his group then took a Philippine Air Force Nomad plane to Legaspi City in time to meet up with the President for the "presentation" to media of the suspected triggerman in the murder of Bicol radio commentator Rowel Endrinal.

I must say that was fast work: the suspect, Carlito Arizobal, alias Zapanta was nabbed at dawn on May 26, by CIDG and police agents. What’s sad is that Arizobal already had a warrant of arrest out for him, with a P250,000 reward on his head, when he killed broadcaster Endrinal. That gutter rat had already been convicted in absentia and sentenced to death for the robbery-slay of a couple in Masbate, but was still at large long enough to murder another victim, this time a journalist.

What I find ironic is that when she presented the suspect to the media and public, La Presidenta unctuously urged everyone to help put an end to the "culture of violence" in the land. Hasn’t GMA noticed? The culture of violence has escalated under her rule because she has been so wishy-washy in enforcing the Death Penalty on already convicted killers, rapists, and drug dealers on Death Row that nobody fears her or the government.

The President has been granting commutations right and left, and was heard by Alikabok to remark that she didn’t want any more people executed during her regime. Is this true? If we don’t impose the Death Penalty, then those who mete out death to hapless victims know they won’t be punished for that most heinous of crimes. (In the meantime, they’ll be busy figuring out ways and means of breaking out of jail).

Violent types are not deterred unless they know they’ll be dealt with ruthlessly – and with equal violence. Alas, under a softie President, I submit, more innocent victims will be condemned to die in the future.

How about showing some mercy for those whose lives were snuffed out, or those alive but not for long under current threat, not for the murderous hoodlums who’re already caught, tried, and convicted?

* * *

It turns out that General Lomibao had declared "all regions in Luzon" jueteng-free based on certifications submitted by all the Regional Directors (Regions 1, 2, 3, 4A, 5, CAR and National Capital Region).

When I asked him for more details, Art said he was still checking out the veracity of these "certifications". Susmariosep, General, don’t be stampeded by the Administration, desperate to defend itself from accusations it is coddling the jueteng Dons, into announcing the impossible – the complete "absence" of illegal gambling (jueteng) operations in Luzon. It simply isn’t credible, and severely damages your own credibility.

There is an expression, however, "you can’t fight City Hall." By the same token, when the biggest Jueteng Lord of them all is based right in the President’s own hometown of Lubao, Pampanga, and is seen to be very buddy-buddy with La Presidenta and the First Family, what is a policeman to do?

The first challenge to him by the entrenched jueteng Dons, if faced with arrest, will be: "Prove it!" This is when the power of the giant and still-growing Jueteng Octopus whose tentacles extend to judges, prosecutors, mayors, councilors, board members, governors and congressmen, will be demonstrated. An honest, crusading cop may meet only a blank wall. And the Great Wall of protection for Jueteng Dons, far more effective than the old Arnedo Dike, or now-crumbled multi-billion peso Mega-dike, were effective against flood and lahar, might extend as far as Malacañang.

Even if you don’t allege any jueteng connections, the political power in Lubao is "businessman" Bong Pineda, whose wife, Lilia "Baby" Pineda was Mayor for three terms, until term limits required her to hand down the Mayorship to their son, Dennis.

In fact, in the last elections, it was strongly suggested (by Bong?) that wife "Baby" be the runningmate of three-term Congresswoman Zeny Ducut who was running for governor. But Ducut already had another runningmate for Vice-Governor, and she declined. Pineda, who used to support Ducut, must have withdrawn his support – because Ducut lost and her opponent Mark Lapid won by a landslide. Coincidence? In Pampanga, there are very few coincidences.

Last week, I stated in this corner that it was not just wrong, but silly for the Senate – whose investigations in the past "in aid of legislation" had mostly been in aid of grandstanding – to hold an inquiry into jueteng. But since there is such a determined and obvious effort to sweep under the rug, or throttle-aborning any serious investigation into the alarming jueteng culture which has corrupted our body politic, and even some elements in the church, I withdraw my objection. There’s a Senate inquiry being set for tomorrow afternoon, Monday.

Will it push through? Or will the cohorts of the Palace in Congress manage to scuttle this inquiry before it starts.

* * *

What intrigues me is the public declaration by Apalit Mayor Tirso Lacanilao that he had been receiving a monthly pay-off of P200,000 from someone he claims he does not know!

If indeed, Mayor Lacanilao is getting P200,000 (balato?) from some jueteng Don, this is bound to create unrest among Pampanga mayors other larger municipalities who don’t receive as much. My local sources say others get only P100,000 per month from the same "Good Samaritan" donor.

But what is incredible, really, is Mayor Lacanilao’s claim that "believe it or not", he does not know from whom his monthly bonanza is coming. That’s really, even if we sound old-fashioned, "one for Ripley’s." If somebody sent you P200,000 a month, wouldn’t you be curious to find out who your benefactor is?

With Lacanilao’s public mea culpa how can we believe that jueteng no longer exists in Luzon? I’m beginning to doubt any Senate inquiry will be convened, but if it is, the Senators might do well to summon that Apalit Mayor to identify, at least, the "delivery boy" who gives him his monthly P200,000 gift. Perhaps, by back-tracking we might be able to trace the spoor all the way back to the "Pope" of jueteng, if we accept the comparison offered by Opposition Senator Aquilino "Nene" Pimentel, who alleged that Pampanga is The Vatican of Jueteng.

And who compose jueteng’s College of Cardinals?

Jueteng gone? Impossible. It lives and waxes even more powerful by the day.

Some Congressmen are even scrambling to cobble together a bill seeking to "legalize" jueteng, because they claim it has been with us for so long that this illegal gambling game has become part and parcel of the fabric of our society. Sanamagan. Since we can’t crush a racket, we’ll have to surrender to it by "legalizing" it? What a disgraceful non-sequitur. Jueteng has enriched a group of Syndicate Dons, the Godfathers of crime, to such a monstrous extent that they have managed to corrupt politicians of every stripe, cops, judges, fiscals, and congressmen. Some journalists, too? Why not. Legalizing jueteng would go even further: it would legitimize their power.

How far up does the rot go?