MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago yesterday named the top jueteng operators and protectors in the country and said that the illegal numbers game still flourishes due to the blessings of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) and the chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP).
“The equation DILG plus PNP equals jueteng means that illegal jueteng consists of a conspiracy between the interior secretary and the police chief,” Santiago said in her privilege speech.
The senator said the two top government officials are the “prime beneficiaries and ultimate protectors” of illegal numbers games.
She dissected the entire backbone of the jueteng anatomy nationwide, linking an incumbent governor, a political ally of former President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, a gambling consultant, a brother of a police general and a long list of local executives from Sangguniang Bayan members to congressmen and local police officers from the municipal to the national level as among those who are involved in an extensive protection racket.
Santiago revealed that about P118.1 million a day is collected from 42 cities and provinces from seven regions in Luzon and Metro Manila.
Top five in the senator’s list of jueteng kingpins are Atong Ang, Tony Santos, Danny Soriano, Aging Lisan and Bong Pineda, husband of Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda.
Citing her own intelligence reports, Santiago claimed that the interior secretary and the PNP chief receive P300 million in jueteng payola a year “to be divided according to agreement.”
She identified Ilocos Gov. Chavit Singson as the main operator in Ilocos Norte, Ilocos Sur and La Union, a certain Bonito Singson as operator in Abra, and a certain M. Urduja/Boy Bata in Pangasinan.
In Region 1, the senator said the daily income for Ilocos Norte is P2 million; Ilocos Sur, P2 million; Abra, P900,000; La Union, P800,000, and Pangasinan, P9 million.
In Region 2, Santiago said Atong Ang, also known as Double A, operates Virtual 2 in Nueva Vizcaya and Isabela which earn P1.5 million and P3.5 million, respectively.
In Cagayan, a certain Danny Soriano, reportedly a brother of police Gen. Jefferson Soriano, operates jueteng (1-37) with a P1.4-million daily take and Quirino (P300,000). The operator in Benguet (P1.2 million) and Baguio (P1.5 million) was not identified.
Santiago, however, commended Aurora Gov. Bellaflor Angara-Castillo because there was no “jueteng to speak of” in her province.
Santiago cited reports reaching her office that Bong Pineda operates in Nueva Ecija with daily revenues of P7.5 million; Bulacan with P8 million/day; Pampanga, P9 million; Angeles City, P1.5 million and Bataan, P3 million.
No particular operator was identified in Tarlac, the home province of President Aquino, but she said that there is a reported P3.5 million daily revenue from jueteng operations.
A certain Col. De los Santos is said to be operating in Zambales, which has P1.5 million daily earning; and one Aging Lisan operating in Olongapo, which accounts for P1.1 million daily revenue.
Santiago: Puno should resign
The senator said after her speech that Undersecretary Puno should gracefully step down because of the embarrassment he has caused President Aquino.
The senator, however, made it clear that current Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo should be spared because Puno has admitted that the chief executive has assigned him to oversee peace and order, the PNP’s jurisdiction.
In linking the DILG and the PNP to the jueteng protection racket, Santiago noted that the DILG exercises control over the PNP and supervision over local governments.
Unless the government takes drastic action, Santiago said jueteng will not end today or for years to come.
“Jueteng will end only four and a half billion years from now, when planet Earth is expected to die. Before then, big stars will explode in supernovas, dwarf stars will turn into black holes, gravity will create new stars, planets and galaxies, the planet Earth will commune with alternate universes, and in the Philippines, jueteng will still continue,” said Santiago, who was in a red suit.
She said jueteng is the crown jewel of any new administration, noting that operators are usually busy courting presidential candidates during elections.
After throwing exorbitant cash contributions, she said, “these racketeers would steer the grateful president to appointing their blushing man as DILG secretary.”
Merchants of poverty
Santiago described the DILG secretary and the PNP chief as the “merchants of poverty” who operate with impunity until the next administration.
She said both officials enjoy one percent of the jueteng gross receipts every month, or one percent of the annual receipts of some P30 billion, equivalent to about P300 million divided by two every year.
Santiago warned that if jueteng continues unabated, the Philippine president will someday be elected on the basis of who gets the biggest jueteng contribution.
However, Verzosa’s lawyer came out yesterday to answer the senator’s allegations.
“That’s another wild accusation and retired PNP chief Verzosa denies that in strongest terms. Senator Santiago has long been at loggerheads with former Secretary (Ronaldo) Puno and has always been her favorite target. Retired chief PNP Verzosa has no personal issues against her and is ready to face any charge that Sen. Santiago may file in court should evidence warrant,” lawyer Benjamin de los Santos said.
PNP officials up in arms
A day before Santiago’s expose, PNP chief Director General Raul Bacalzo and five regional police directors in Luzon have all countered allegations that jueteng continues to proliferate in their respective areas due to the huge payola protection racket from operators.
Regional director Chief Superintendent Orlando Mabutas maintained that the PNP has conducted all-out operations against illegal gambling in Region 1, adding that jueteng “does not exist in Ilocos Norte because of STL operations.”
However, he said jueteng is conducted through guerrilla operations in Pangasinan.
Chief Superintendent Alan Purisima, Central Luzon police director said he has ordered an intensified campaign against the illegal numbers game in his area since he assumed office on Aug. 3.
Aside from Mabutas and Purisima, Chief Superintendent Benedict Michael Fokno, PRO2 regional director, Chief Superintendent Nicanor Bartolome, regional director of PRO-4 Calabarzon, and Chief Superintendent Artemio Hicban, regional director of the Police Regional Office of Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan (MIMAROPA), also submitted to the Senate Blue Ribbon committee their respective affidavits to negate the claims of retired archbishop Oscar Cruz.
Chief PNP slams Cam’s claims
Bacalzo, in an affidavit submitted at the Senate hearing, belied the claims of jueteng operator-turned-whistleblower Sandra Cam that he was receiving millions in jueteng payola.
“I totally and unequivocally deny all allegations of Ms. Sandra Cam as pure lies and speculations, made without factual or legal basis, ill-motivated and designed merely to malign and destroy my name for whatever reason unknown to me,” Bacalzo said.
Bacalzo said he has reviewed the transcripts of the Senate hearings on May 30, 2005 and June 9 and 12, which Cam alluded to.
“It is very revealing that nowhere in the transcripts of records of the Senate hearings or at no time during the Senate hearings did my name appear or was ever mentioned,” Bacalzo said in his affidavit.
He noted that Cam’s statements were “full of inconsistencies and assumptions.”
PCSO manager also hit
In another affidavit, Romualdo Quinones, manager III who is assigned at the Special Projects Department of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), also submitted an affidavit before the Senate, categorically denying that he has received any payola from jueteng.
“I have no knowledge and/or participation on the matter of the alleged jueteng operations, payola or payoffs,” he said.
Quinones, who was invited to the Senate’s hearing as a resource person, said he was given an additional assignment as member of the Project Steering Committee of the PCSO Small Town Lottery project, and as head of the STL Project Management Office.
Santiago has alleged that Quinones was also in the payroll of jueteng operators. - By Christina Mendez
