Mayor insists there’s no ‘jueteng’ in her town

LUCENA CITY, Philippines—Infanta Mayor Grace America on Wednesday strongly denied involvement in jueteng, saying the illegal numbers racket doesn’t exist in her town.

The operator of small town lottery (STL) in Quezon, on the other hand, appealed to jueteng whistle-blowers not to drag STL into the controversy.

“We never offer or give payola to any government official because our operation is legal,” said Rowena Castillo, an official of Pirouette Corp., which owns a franchise to run STL in Quezon.

On Tuesday, three councilors from Infanta—Mannie America, Maxiel Mortiz Jr. and Lord Arnel Ruanto—presented a video of Infanta Vice Mayor Ricardo Macasaet III supposedly offering them payoffs to support jueteng.

The three sought the help of Archbishop Oscar Cruz’s group, Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Jueteng (National Crusade against Jueteng).

Castillo said illegal gambling operators use STL “as cover for their illicit operations.”

She said her company has submitted to police a list of suspected jueteng operators in Quezon and “it’s about time that police act on it.”

Senior Supt. Ericson Velasquez, Quezon police chief, said his office is investigating the three councilor’s statements.

Mayor America said it was Archbishop Cruz’s group itself which declared her town jueteng-free about two years ago.

“We intend to keep that status,” said the mayor.