Quezon shootout shows gov’t not keen on crushing jueteng—retired archbishop

Retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines—The shootout in Atimonan, Quezon, that left 13 persons dead showed that suppressing the illegal numbers game jueteng has not been a priority of the Aquino administration, retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said Tuesday.

“Jueteng is not a priority of the administration. I thought it was supposed to be anti-corruption but the corruption due to jueteng is rampant and it is not being eradicated,” said Cruz, who heads the anti-jueteng group Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Jueteng.

He said some of the names of the victims were known to his group but “we don’t really count them that much because they are not in the (top) level.”

He said that to stop jueteng in a locality, the police and local government officials should agree to root it out.

“If the PNP and the local public officials are agreed to have jueteng in their place for their respective portions of the jueteng income, there will be jueteng everywhere. But if they don’t agree, there is not going to be jueteng in that place,” Cruz said.