Senate inquiry will not solve jueteng issue – prelate

Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

MANILA, Philippines – Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, a staunch anti-gambling crusader, said he felt that a fresh investigation on the illegal numbers game “jueteng” in the Senate would not still yield results.

In his interview with Radyo Inquirer 990AM on Monday, Cruz said the problem with “jueteng” was that it was backed by the authorities and politicians.

“Nakadikit na po sa istruktura ng pulitika ang jueteng. Kapag may jueteng, 101 percent tumatanggap ng payola ang local police authority at ang local public official,” he said.

“Basta may jueteng syempre tumatanggap ang mga namamahala diyan,” he added.

Cruz said the only solution to jueteng was for public officials and the authorities to agree to rid their areas of the illegal numbers game, citing as example  how the late Interior  Secretary Jesse Robredo fought against jueteng when he was mayor of Naga City.

“Talaga pong yung mama [Robredo] ay deretso—ayaw niya ng jueteng. Tapos ang kwento,”

The Cruz  was among those Senator Miriam Defensor-Santiago recently said that the Senate committee on revision of codes and laws will invite Cruz on Friday to participate in their inquiry on Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno’s alleged involvement in jueteng.

For more of the interview, listen to Radyo Inquirer 990AM