Retired cops setting up ‘jueteng’ syndicate

A different kind of “tsunami” is threatening to ravage Metro Manila and nearby provinces.

Several retired senior police officers, including one known as “Tsunami,” have allegedly formed a group to run the illegal numbers racket “jueteng” in the metropolis, Calabarzon and Central Luzon, according to a ranking government official.

The source, a leading member of a task force formed by President Duterte to expunge all forms of illegal gambling, said the former police officials were dropping the name of Jose Jorge Corpuz, chair of of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), in persuading local police chiefs into letting them operate their illicit business in exchange for monthly payoffs.

Citing information from the police, the source said the group could earn as much as P10 million daily from jueteng bets collected in Metro Manila and in the provinces of Laguna, Cavite, Quezon, Batangas, Rizal, Bulacan, Pampanga and Nueva Ecija.

“The retired police officers are claiming to have the blessing of Corpuz, which I personally doubt because he knows that jueteng is illegal and President Duterte abhors all illegal gambling activities,” said the source, who asked not to be named for security reasons.

“This group has also been talking to corrupt local government officials who had gotten used to receiving jueteng payola during the previous administrations,” he told the Inquirer.

Probe ongoing

The government official declined to identify the retired police official known as Tsunami pending the result of the investigation being conducted by authorities.

“This Tsunami and other members of the group are apparently trying to use their influence as former police officials for their jueteng activities,” he said.

A member of Philippine Military Academy Class 1982, Corpuz has vowed to stamp out jueteng, two-ball, “masiao” and other similar underground numbers rackets with the expansion of the state-sanctioned Small Town Lottery (STL).

In STL and jueteng, bettors choose two-number combinations—from 1 to 37 for jueteng and from 1 to 40 for STL. Unlike the PCSO-run lotto, where draws are televised nationwide, STL draws are done locally.

Front for jueteng

Because the two games have similar mechanics, STL has been used as a front for their racket by jueteng operators.

Mr. Duterte, who won the May 2016 balloting on a single platform of curbing crime, has designated Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II to head a multiagency task force to clean up the country of illicit gambling as part of his administration’s anticrime campaign.

Corpuz on Sunday said he was just doing his job promoting STL as he shrugged off information that his name was being used by a group of retired police officers to operate jueteng.

“That’s wrong,” Corpuz told the Inquirer when sought for comment. “Am I promoting jueteng? I’m promoting STL, the only legal numbers game in the country.”

“I don’t know why they’re using my name. Identify them, so I can act on it. There are a lot of retired generals,” said Corpuz, a former police official himself.

Corpuz said it was the job of the police to investigate illegal gambling activities.

“Mine is to generate revenue through legal numbers game and this revenue will be used for charity programs of the government,” he said.

Asked if he has nothing to do with jueteng, Corpuz said, “Is PCSO promoting jueteng? The President’s instruction to me is to stop illegal gambling. Jueteng is illegal. And my job is to stop jueteng, stop illegal gambling, stop corruption. That’s my job. That’s what I’m doing.”

Oscar Albayalde, National Capital Region Police Office director, said he would ask intelligence operatives to verify the report about jueteng activities in Metro Manila.

He said no such information had reached his office.

“As far as (Metro Manila) is concerned, we have not monitored (any group talking to local police chiefs),” Albayalde said.

The source said the group of retired senior police officers had tapped the services of Totoy Haruta, a well-known gambling operator in Laguna province, to run their illegal operation using STL as front.