“We were told that there is just going to be a change in the operators. But this time, it will really be jueteng—no more disguises,” said a police official.
The source, who asked not to be named due to security concerns and the sensitivity of the issue, said gambling lords have been notifying (nagtitimbre) officials of their upcoming takeover of the jai alai game, which is operated by the Meridien Vista Gaming Corp. (MVGC) at the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport in Sta. Ana, Cagayan.
“They were dropping the name of (Rodolfo) Bong Pineda, who supposedly now has gotten the go-signal from Malacañang to take over jueteng operations in most parts of the country. These are the same people who used to run jueteng before,” the source said.
This time, the police official said, gambling lords plan to use Loterya ng Bayan as cover. The Loterya is the new game developed by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office to replace Small Town Lottery and to stamp out the illegal numbers game. “They did that with STL but they failed,” the police source said.
In Pampanga, Gov. Lilia Pineda said her husband, Bong, has been “leading a quiet life.” “He should not be dragged into [these] issues. That’s unfair to him,” she said.
The Inquirer tried but failed to reach Bong Pineda but a person close to him said he has been busy farming and raising game fowl.
Since 1995, when the Senate investigated jueteng operations in the country, Pineda has been been avoiding talking to reporters. He appeared only once in the Senate investigation that year.
Senior Supt. Elmer Beltejar, Nueva Vizcaya police director, denied he was among those visited by gambling lords. “[That’s a] negative. No one has come to me about jueteng,” he said.
On Monday, the MVGC stopped its operations in 11 provinces in Luzon and the Visayas after the Court of Appeals imposed a 60-day temporary restraining order (TRO) on the firm’s operations outside the Cagayan freeport, where the games are played.
Raul Banderas, MVGC spokesperson, said the temporary stoppage was to allow the company’s lawyers to plot their legal moves against the harassment being applied by “an army of emissaries [employed by] jueteng syndicates.”
He expressed concern that hundreds of the firm’s employees would be forced to return to being jueteng bet collectors. “Those lowly workers have mouths to feed, too,” he said.
Banderas said he was disgusted that the current thrust of the government is to clamp down on a legitimate business, while allowing the proliferation of jueteng in many parts of the country.
“[Jai alai] is just a sport where people can place bets. These days, Filipinos bet practically on anything,” he said.
Another police source, however, said local and police officials were skeptical about the return of jueteng.
“It will bring the [police] back to the days when we conduct vaudeville raids against jueteng just to show the public we are doing something about illegal gambling, even when our top officers are its biggest protectors,” said the source, who admitted receiving payola for his superiors.
But while bet collection has stopped, officials of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza), which gave MVGC its gaming franchise, would not yet shut down jai alai games being played at the freeport.
“We have yet to receive a copy of the order, but if the court says that we should stop the jai alai games, then we cannot do anything but comply,” Jose Mari Ponce, Ceza administrator, said by telephone.
Ceza granted the MVGC a license to operate jai alai, but later ordered its stoppage after a legal opinion it obtained showed that MVGC’s “virtual game” cannot be operated outside the freeport.
The MVGC opposed the cease-and-desist order, and obtained a TRO from a Cagayan court. Ceza, through the Office of the Solicitor General, elevated the case to the CA, but lost there.
The case is pending at the Supreme Court. With a report from Tonette Orejas, Inquirer Central Luzon