A team of investigators from the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) has started looking into the bank accounts and assets of Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino Jr., who has been accused of coddling operators of the illegal numbers game, or “jueteng,” in his province.
Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino on Monday denied living on money from the illegal numbers racket “jueteng.”
With less than two months before the campaign for the 2013 midterm elections starts, cracks are already showing on the alliance between the Liberal Party (LP) and the Nationalist People’s Coalition (NPC), and the shaker is the revival of an investigation into the illegal numbers racket “jueteng.”
Bugallon Mayor Rodrigo Orduña, the man who blew the whistle on the alleged involvement of Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino Jr. in jueteng operations in the province, reported for work in his town on Monday, this time with security aides monitoring his movements following his exposé last week.
Malacañang on Monday pressed a whistleblower to back up his charges that former First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, former Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and Philippine National Police chiefs took jueteng payoffs with hard evidence.
Then First Gentleman Jose Miguel Arroyo, then Interior Secretary Ronaldo Puno and whoever was the Philippine National Police chief were known as the “Three Kings” of the Arroyo administration who received regular protection money from operators of “jueteng” in Pangasinan, said a town mayor who turned whistle-blower.
Blame it on basketball. A disagreement over a referee’s call during a local basketball league involving both their sons triggered the falling out between Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino Jr. and his trusted aide, Bugallon town Mayor Rodrigo Orduña, which led to the latter’s exposé of the governor’s alleged involvement in jueteng (an illegal numbers game).
