MANILA, Philippines ? Catholic Church leaders said Joseph ?Erap? Estrada should not run for president again if he is just going to legalize the illegal numbers game ?jueteng.?
?It?s a very bad move to legalize jueteng. He should not run for president if that?s his thinking,? Sorsogon Bishop Arturo Bastes said.
The Church strongly opposes any kind of gambling, saying it destroys society?s moral fiber and exploits the poor who are led to depend on luck.
Another bishop, Jose Oliveros of Bulacan, assailed Estrada?s ?twisted? logic that legalizing jueteng would lift Filipinos out of poverty.
?[His] reasoning is twisted. Not everyone wins in jueteng; in fact, more people lose than win, so where is the poverty alleviation there?? Oliveros said.
Manila Auxiliary Bishop Broderick Pabillo said that contrary to Estrada?s claim at a forum on Tuesday attended by five presidential aspirants, legalizing jueteng would not solve poverty.
?He has a wrong view, because how can jueteng solve poverty? Our country will end up worse if we have a leader who thinks that way,? Pabillo said.
Exploitation
Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, one of the most vocal Church leaders when it comes to the issue of jueteng, said the numbers game only exploited lowly bettors and promoted corruption among government officials.
Cruz said Estrada should not run for president again ?because we know what happened and why he was ousted from office??a reference to Estrada?s plunder conviction for accepting jueteng kickbacks, among others.
Catarman Bishop Emmanuel Trance said that while legalizing jueteng could be a ?pragmatic? approach to the underground gambling game run by criminal syndicates in collusion with local authorities, it was not the moral solution.
Added Trance: ?I don?t agree with Estrada?s policy statement on jueteng.
?As a vice, it will hasten further the degradation of the moral fiber of the individual and society. In short, it will not [address] the root of economic poverty. It will make us poorer morally and spiritually.
?It may get popular support, but ultimately it will not solve our national problem of poverty which does not call simply for economic solutions.?
