NEWLY APPOINTED Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo has a clear marching order from President Aquino: Stamp out ?jueteng.?
?He issued a very clear directive to stop jueteng. Jueteng is illegal. There?s no reason for it to continue,? Robredo, who met with Mr. Aquino shortly before his appointment was announced late on Friday, told the Inquirer by phone Saturday afternoon.
He will assume the post, which will give him supervision over the Philippine National Police as well as the Bureaus of Fire Prevention and of Jail Management, on Tuesday.
The multiawarded former mayor of Naga City said he would meet with officials of the PNP, Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and other agencies to determine the extent of the numbers game that earns billions of pesos for its operators.
?We need to see the whole picture. It may not be that extensive, so we need to focus our effort only in provinces. But if it?s widespread, we need to have complete information,? he said.
Complicated situations
Robredo said he expected PNP Director General Jesus Verzosa to submit a report on jueteng operations in provinces.
?There are some complicated situations. There are areas where jueteng is patterned after the STL (small town lottery). We have to prevent the other from taking advantage of the legal one,? he said.
Malacańang declared last week its opposition to the numbers racket that flourished during the nine-year Arroyo administration, in response to the demand of Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz that it lay down its antigambling policy.
But it said it would maintain the status quo on STL and other legal forms of gambling.
Mr. Aquino had earlier appointed Cristino Naguiat, his classmate in college, to head the state-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
No touch and go
Robredo, holder of a Ramon Magsaysay Award for Government Service, said it was too early to say what track the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) would take against jueteng.
But he said: ?We?d do away with the touch and go practice, where you operate and then stop. It should not be ignored or get less attention, compared with other concerns such as illegal drugs.?
Robredo said that since Mr. Aquino ran on an anticorruption and good governance platform, the DILG would try to be a model for local government units by publishing its budget, allocation and use in newspapers, for a start.
?We will try to be more transparent, engaging and more accountable,? he said.
Kaya Natin!
The members of Kaya Natin! Movement for Good Governance and Ethical Leadership praised Mr. Aquino for the appointment of Robredo, one of its cofounders.
?We believe that Robredo is not only highly qualified for the [interior portfolio] but is also the best possible choice to spearhead one of the most influential and powerful departments in our government,? they said in a statement.
They said Robredo exemplified effective, ethical and empowering leadership, and presented as proof the transformation of Naga from a sleepy third-class city into one of the ?most dynamic and progressive cities in the country.?
?As current and former local and national government leaders, we believe that Robredo will be able to help improve the delivery of basic services, especially in the fields of education, housing and health care in the various local government units all over the country as he has done in Naga City,? they said.
The Kaya Natin! members also expressed confidence that Robredo would closely coordinate with the PNP not only to maintain law and order but also to ensure that ?all forms of illegalities shall be stamped out immediately.?
IN THE KNOW
?JUETENG,? an illegal numbers game played by many Filipinos, relies heavily on a large number of bettors with no limit on the amount of bets.
It is said that the Spanish colonizers introduced the game in the 1800s and was controlled by migrant Chinese in the 1900s until the locals took over.
To play jueteng, a bettor picks two digits between the numbers 1 and 37. For one?s bet to win, the numbers should be drawn consecutively. In 2005, a bet of P1 can give a return of P800.
Variations of the game include ?tumbok? and ?sahod? (betting on the order of the numbers drawn), ?pompiang? (betting on the same number), ?casas? (betting on three numbers) and ?deretsa? (betting on one number and any number equal to or lower than one?s chosen number).
Draws make use of paraphernalia similar to those used in the game of bingo, although sometimes, the winning combinations are provided by the jueteng financiers.
Major players
The major players involved in jueteng are the banker (also the capitalist or financier), the operator or maintainer, the checkers or watchers, and the accountants.
A ?cabo? operates one or many cells of a jueteng syndicate in a given area. He looks after the bets collected by ?cobradors? and passes the winnings back to them for distribution.
An operator oversees a bigger area composed of different cells. He makes sure that the interests of the banker, who finances the operations of the syndicate, are always protected.
The cabo and the operator each get 10 to 15 percent of the gross collections and winnings. Another 30 percent is set aside for the police and other public officials as ?protection money.?
Allegations of involvement in jueteng operations have hounded even the highest leaders of the land.
In the plunder case against ousted President Joseph Estrada in 2001, one of the four charges involved his acceptance of protection money from jueteng.
