A former priest and a former governor of Pampanga, Eduardo Panlilio, said he will share with jueteng whistleblower, retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, his experience in fighting jueteng.
"I believe he needs help. I don’t think Archbishop Cruz will say something if it’s without basis," Panlilio said in an article posted on Monday on the Union of Catholic Asian News website.
Panlilio admitted he had been a victim of sorts of a jueteng-related "conspiracy" between jueteng operators and local police officials in Pampanga.
According to him, the conspiracy prevented him from cracking down on the illegal numbers game, he claimed.
“There was no way for me to stop jueteng … because there seems to be a conspiracy between the leadership of the Philippine National Police and the jueteng operators in Pampanga," he said.
However, Panlilio said he is not giving up the fight, and will support Cruz's crusade.
Cruz, who heads a nationwide crusade against gambling, had testified before the Senate and linked some officials to payoffs from jueteng operators.
Since his expose, Cruz said he received messages of support from people who asked not to be named, but said most of these supporters did not follow up with action.
One caller claimed he had information about gambling, but when asked for it he refused to elaborate.
“My conclusion is the man may have some knowledge about gambling in the country, legal or illegal, but he is not certain whether to come out or not," Cruz said.
Aquino urged to declare all-out war vs. jueteng
Catholic officials called anew on President Benigno Simeon Aquino III to declare an “all-out war" against jueteng.
“That’s what [Aquino] said before, so I hope he’ll be true to his word," Panlilio said.
Manila Archbishop Gaudencio Cardinal Rosales called on the government to take drastic measures against “organized extortion" in jueteng.
Rosales said jueteng lords get richer and benefit from the underground and multimillion-peso lottery.
“Jueteng is an organized extortion… extorting money from the poor in order to become rich," Rosales said in an interview on Church-run Radyo Veritas.
Excerpts of the interview were posted on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines news site on Monday.
Rosales said many of those victimized by jueteng operators belong to the marginalized sector of society who hope to double their hard-earned money by placing bets.
On Cruz's list
During the Senate hearing on jueteng on September 21, Cruz named the following officials for allegedly receiving jueteng payoffs: Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno, and Retired Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Jesus Verzosa.
Those named by Cruz as alleged jueteng lords and operators were: Governor Baby Pineda of Pampanga; Paul Dy of Isabela; Retired general Eugene Martin of Baguio City; Mayor Mauricio Domogan of Baguio City; Danny Soriano of Cagayan; a certain retired "General Padilla" operating in Pasay, Parañaque, Muntinlupa, and San Pedro; Governor Amado Espino in Pangasinan, and Boy Jalandoni of Bacolod.
Identified as a jueteng collector on the ground was a certain Eddie Fontanilla, with retired General Rey Cachuela as the intermediate recipient, Cruz's list said.
Those identified as "good resource persons" for jueteng were Atong Ang for jueteng and jai alai and Manoling Morato for STL.
During the term of former president Joseph Estrada, Ang became a consultant of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) on jai alai operations. –VVP
