DAGUPAN CITY?Retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz said operators of Small-Town Lottery (STL) in Batangas could have easily earned P170 million a year, thanks to the capital provided by financiers of the underground numbers game ?jueteng.?

But government has not been able to establish the link between the two popular gambling operations in the provinces, Cruz said.

He said he knows of a jueteng lord, who maintains 14 STL franchises, which means that he owns 14 gaming corporations that earn profits that are not recorded by government.

?STL is just a coverup for jueteng. Jueteng operators applied for a franchise from [the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office] so they can operate the illegal numbers game under the cloak of STL franchise,? Cruz said.

?The information they want to leak to the public is that there are plenty of STL franchisees because it means there is bigger income for the government. But the truth is no one is looking for information [to validate the earnings] reported by STL operators,? he said.

The PCSO relies solely on these reports and has no mechanism to validate the earnings of any franchise holder, he said.

Cruz said he suspects that only 10 percent of the profits are actually remitted to the PCSO. He said 90 percent are dividends from jueteng, which use the STL system to operate undetected.

?The PCSO has no manner of checking. It is helpless [with regard to] checking figures,? he said.

Cruz, who has maintained an antigambling crusade for decades, said jueteng has become a ?political monster.?

?The operator will go to political official or a candidate offering support as long as jueteng freely operates in the area. If the official or the candidate agrees, he would be given ?rewards? or support during elections. But if they contradict the game, they won?t get votes in the elections,? he said.

Batangas elections had been shaped by the province?s gambling woes ever since actress-turned-politician Vilma Santos pursued and won the gubernatorial race there.

But Santos admitted in 2007 that gambling had not disappeared despite the defeat of politicians identified with the operations. A certain Cezar Reyes, allegedly dropping the name of her husband, Sen. Ralph Recto, had been linked to jueteng.

The late Gov. Armand Sanchez was mentioned in Senate hearings as among the politicians suspected of having ties to jueteng.

But Senior Supt. Alberto Supapo, Batangas police director, said rumors linking both politicians to underground gambling were not true. He said before Sanchez became governor, he had already ceased involvement in jueteng and had been operating STL. Reports from Inquirer Northern Luzon and Marrah Erika Lesaba, Inquirer Southern Luzon