‘Jueteng’ gets stronger in C. Luzon
Inquirer
“JUETENG” fever is sweeping a large part of Luzon and the underworld lottery that authorities said had been checked has never been stronger.
The names of its operators remain the same, based on interviews with sources and documents furnished the Inquirer.
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, a staunch antijueteng crusader, would neither confirm nor deny if the names being linked to jueteng operations in Pangasinan were the ones behind the illegal numbers game.
While he admitted having heard of these “names being mentioned many times over,” Cruz said he would rather not be specific about the identities of these people.
He said he would leave it to authorities “to determine who those ‘lords’ are and who their protectors are.”
Supt. Noli Taliño, deputy director for operations of the Pangasinan police, said he had also heard of the names “Clyde” and “Lito” as the ones supposedly operating jueteng in the province.
A police report showed that the provincial police’s 16 raids from January to July 18 this year led to 37 arrests.
At least 16 cases were filed in court while P12,956 in bet money was recovered.
“Jueteng, being illegitimate, cannot be promoted if there are no protectors of those operating and funding it. Operation and protection always come in pair. If you remove one, the other will not exist. This is true for other illegitimate activities like drugs, prostitution and the like,” Cruz said.
Cruz, national chair of the Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Sugal, said he was aware that jueteng had returned in most towns in his archdiocese.
Cagayan Valley
In Cagayan Valley, jueteng continued in four provinces in the region, with antigambling officials blaming the supposed connivance of some government officials and the police.
Police said bet collection was either done clandestinely or were for the government-sanctioned EZ-2 lottery.
Cagayan Rep. Manuel Mamba said the proliferation of illegal gambling continued to be a “partnership” between elective local officials and the police.
“It takes two to tango. If local officials would say no, and the police would likewise say no, jueteng can never survive,” he said in a phone interview on Tuesday.
Mamba confirmed reports that a certain Danny Soriano has been allegedly operating the illegal numbers games in at least two districts in Cagayan.
Cagayan Gov. Edgar Lara, however, denied reports that an organized form of jueteng, or one that usually had the blessing of government officials, operated in his province.
“But I cannot say with all certainty that there would be no sporadic and unorganized, probably guerrilla jueteng operations in a few parts of Cagayan,” he said.
Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca said she wished she had more allies among local officials in the fight against jueteng.
“I have already asked the help of all the levels in the Philippine National Police [hierarchy], even up to [Local Government] Secretary [Ronaldo] Puno, but to no avail. I just hope I would not be constrained to go to the level of the President again,” she said.
Senior Supt. Jude Santos, acting Isabela police director, said the police have adopted a relentless campaign against jueteng in the province.
He identified a certain Jun Ramirez as the alleged financier of guerrilla type jueteng operations in various towns and cities of Isabela.
Spill over
In Nueva Vizcaya, Gov. Luisa Cuaresma said she was dismayed that despite her order to the police to stop jueteng, bet collections continued.
“It seems the police cannot stop it. Instead of going after the cobradores, they gave me certifications that towns were jueteng-free,” she said.
Quirino Gov. Pedro Bacani blamed the “spill over” operations of jueteng in a number of towns in Isabela and in Santiago City for the reported bet collection in several towns in his province.
“These bet collectors come from [the towns of] Cordon and San Agustin and Santiago City (in Isabela), where draws are reportedly being held three times a day,” he said.
He said he did not know the supposed financiers of jueteng in his province.
“They conduct guerrilla collections, and run to the [provincial] border once they are chased. They are wily,” Bacani said.
Central Luzon
Only “sporadic” jueteng operations have been monitored in Central Luzon since February, a top police official said.
This was why police have yet to come out with a of financiers who are known to have resumed the illegal numbers game, said Chief Supt. Ismael Rafanan, regional police director.
Rafanan said only Bebot Roxas of Tarlac is believed to have gone back to the trade.
The names of 34 others, who landed in the police list that the Inquirer obtained a few weeks before the game was “totally stopped” on May 4, 2005, have not been reentered.
Inquirer sources among the police and residents have reported a completely different situation.
Suspected jueteng lord Rodolfo “Bong” Pineda is said to be both into the legal Small Town Lottery operations and jueteng in Angeles City, Pampanga and Bataan.
A close relative of Pineda said the latter has busied himself in his businesses. The name of Pineda is stamped in papelitos or jueteng bet sheets in the City of San Fernando, though.
In Zambales, reports said Peping Bildan started jueteng operations there in March.
Senior Supt. Arrazad Subong, provincial police director, said jueteng has returned in the province, saying operators have learned to hide this illegal numbers game to elude arrest.
Subong said they have arrested several bet collectors, mostly in Subic town and nearby Olongapo City.
“Jueteng operators will temporarily ease up during a crackdown. But they have never really stopped, they just go into hiding,” he said.
Senior Supt. Angelito Pacia, Olongapo City police director, said guerrilla-type jueteng operations in the city use the PCSO’s EZ-2 lottery as a front.
Senior Supt. Perfecto Palad, former chief of the regional anti-illegal gambling task force, said he has no information on the reported operations of a certain Peter in Bulacan.
STL and jueteng
Rafanan said it had been difficult for policemen to arrest suspected jueteng collectors because in many cases, they turned out to be STL collectors.
He said on a weekly basis, provincial and city police directors get directives to “pinpoint, locate and neutralize” those behind any forms of illegal gambling.
Field reports said that collectors solicit bets for jueteng than for STL. They also use jueteng paraphernalia, instead of STL cards. Reports from Yolanda Sotelo-Fuertes, Melvin Gascon and Ben Moses Ebreo, PDI Northern Luzon Bureau, and Tonette Orejas, Carmela Reyes and Allan Macatuno, PDI Central Luzon Desk
“JUETENG” fever is sweeping a large part of Luzon and the underworld lottery that authorities said had been checked has never been stronger.
The names of its operators remain the same, based on interviews with sources and documents furnished the Inquirer.
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, a staunch antijueteng crusader, would neither confirm nor deny if the names being linked to jueteng operations in Pangasinan were the ones behind the illegal numbers game.
While he admitted having heard of these “names being mentioned many times over,” Cruz said he would rather not be specific about the identities of these people.
He said he would leave it to authorities “to determine who those ‘lords’ are and who their protectors are.”
Supt. Noli Taliño, deputy director for operations of the Pangasinan police, said he had also heard of the names “Clyde” and “Lito” as the ones supposedly operating jueteng in the province.
A police report showed that the provincial police’s 16 raids from January to July 18 this year led to 37 arrests.
At least 16 cases were filed in court while P12,956 in bet money was recovered.
“Jueteng, being illegitimate, cannot be promoted if there are no protectors of those operating and funding it. Operation and protection always come in pair. If you remove one, the other will not exist. This is true for other illegitimate activities like drugs, prostitution and the like,” Cruz said.
Cruz, national chair of the Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Sugal, said he was aware that jueteng had returned in most towns in his archdiocese.
Cagayan Valley
In Cagayan Valley, jueteng continued in four provinces in the region, with antigambling officials blaming the supposed connivance of some government officials and the police.
Police said bet collection was either done clandestinely or were for the government-sanctioned EZ-2 lottery.
Cagayan Rep. Manuel Mamba said the proliferation of illegal gambling continued to be a “partnership” between elective local officials and the police.
“It takes two to tango. If local officials would say no, and the police would likewise say no, jueteng can never survive,” he said in a phone interview on Tuesday.
Mamba confirmed reports that a certain Danny Soriano has been allegedly operating the illegal numbers games in at least two districts in Cagayan.
Cagayan Gov. Edgar Lara, however, denied reports that an organized form of jueteng, or one that usually had the blessing of government officials, operated in his province.
“But I cannot say with all certainty that there would be no sporadic and unorganized, probably guerrilla jueteng operations in a few parts of Cagayan,” he said.
Isabela Gov. Grace Padaca said she wished she had more allies among local officials in the fight against jueteng.
“I have already asked the help of all the levels in the Philippine National Police [hierarchy], even up to [Local Government] Secretary [Ronaldo] Puno, but to no avail. I just hope I would not be constrained to go to the level of the President again,” she said.
Senior Supt. Jude Santos, acting Isabela police director, said the police have adopted a relentless campaign against jueteng in the province.
He identified a certain Jun Ramirez as the alleged financier of guerrilla type jueteng operations in various towns and cities of Isabela.
Spill over
In Nueva Vizcaya, Gov. Luisa Cuaresma said she was dismayed that despite her order to the police to stop jueteng, bet collections continued.
“It seems the police cannot stop it. Instead of going after the cobradores, they gave me certifications that towns were jueteng-free,” she said.
Quirino Gov. Pedro Bacani blamed the “spill over” operations of jueteng in a number of towns in Isabela and in Santiago City for the reported bet collection in several towns in his province.
“These bet collectors come from [the towns of] Cordon and San Agustin and Santiago City (in Isabela), where draws are reportedly being held three times a day,” he said.
He said he did not know the supposed financiers of jueteng in his province.
“They conduct guerrilla collections, and run to the [provincial] border once they are chased. They are wily,” Bacani said.
Central Luzon
Only “sporadic” jueteng operations have been monitored in Central Luzon since February, a top police official said.
This was why police have yet to come out with a of financiers who are known to have resumed the illegal numbers game, said Chief Supt. Ismael Rafanan, regional police director.
Rafanan said only Bebot Roxas of Tarlac is believed to have gone back to the trade.
The names of 34 others, who landed in the police list that the Inquirer obtained a few weeks before the game was “totally stopped” on May 4, 2005, have not been reentered.
Inquirer sources among the police and residents have reported a completely different situation.
Suspected jueteng lord Rodolfo “Bong” Pineda is said to be both into the legal Small Town Lottery operations and jueteng in Angeles City, Pampanga and Bataan.
A close relative of Pineda said the latter has busied himself in his businesses. The name of Pineda is stamped in papelitos or jueteng bet sheets in the City of San Fernando, though.
In Zambales, reports said Peping Bildan started jueteng operations there in March.
Senior Supt. Arrazad Subong, provincial police director, said jueteng has returned in the province, saying operators have learned to hide this illegal numbers game to elude arrest.
Subong said they have arrested several bet collectors, mostly in Subic town and nearby Olongapo City.
“Jueteng operators will temporarily ease up during a crackdown. But they have never really stopped, they just go into hiding,” he said.
Senior Supt. Angelito Pacia, Olongapo City police director, said guerrilla-type jueteng operations in the city use the PCSO’s EZ-2 lottery as a front.
Senior Supt. Perfecto Palad, former chief of the regional anti-illegal gambling task force, said he has no information on the reported operations of a certain Peter in Bulacan.
STL and jueteng
Rafanan said it had been difficult for policemen to arrest suspected jueteng collectors because in many cases, they turned out to be STL collectors.
He said on a weekly basis, provincial and city police directors get directives to “pinpoint, locate and neutralize” those behind any forms of illegal gambling.
Field reports said that collectors solicit bets for jueteng than for STL. They also use jueteng paraphernalia, instead of STL cards. Reports from Yolanda Sotelo-Fuertes, Melvin Gascon and Ben Moses Ebreo, PDI Northern Luzon Bureau, and Tonette Orejas, Carmela Reyes and Allan Macatuno, PDI Central Luzon Desk
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