CLARK FREEPORT – A week after Pampanga Gov. Eddie Panlilio claimed that the illegal numbers game “jueteng” has become more rampant in her home province, President Macapagal-Arroyo on Tuesday ordered Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno, local officials and the Philippine National Police to “stop anything illegal” in Pampanga.

Ms Arroyo gave the order as she addressed some 1,000 of her provincemates, led by their elected leaders, who gathered for a rally expressing support for her in front of the White House, the official residence of the President in Clark.

It was the first time that Ms Arroyo gave an instruction related to jueteng in Pampanga.

“It is sad that many criticisms, some of them coming from Pampanga, are coming my way,” she said in Kapampangan.

“In the fight against jueteng, I ask national and local officials to work together to stop anything illegal in the province,” she said, without confirming or denying that the illegal numbers game exists, or that it has enjoyed an upsurge recently.

Friendly audience

Neither did she defend the Small Town Lottery (STL), a game that the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office started in 2006 to kill jueteng.

The crowd clapped immediately after she talked on that matter. The crowd included her eldest son, Rep. Juan Miguel Arroyo, and three other Pampanga lawmakers, Vice Gov. Joseller Guiao, around 10 Catholic priests led by Msgr. Eugenio Mercado Jr. and businesswoman Lolita Hizon.

Also in the crowd was Lubao Mayor Dennis Pineda, the son of suspected jueteng lord Rodolfo “Bong” Pineda. Mayor Pineda has denied his father was running either jueteng or STL.

Senior Supt. Gil Lebin Jr., acting provincial police director, was on stage as Ms Arroyo spoke. Lebin, who was recently appointed to his Pampanga post, said in an earlier interview that he did not think jueteng exists in the province.

Panlilio who?

Throughout her 10-minute speech, Ms Arroyo never made any reference to Panlilio.

The governor could not be reached for comments. He has left for Cambodia to join the planning workshops of the Talete King Panyuling Kapampangan, a 22-year-old local Grameen bank which he founded and where he is an honorary chair.

Panlilio had claimed that jueteng continued to proliferate because of the legal cover given to it by STL.

Pampanga Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David earlier said government officials were merely dishing out “well rehearsed dialogues” on the fight against jueteng.