Jueteng Nation
The Pampanga Anti-Gambling Council started an anti-jueteng campaign with an information drive centered on the message, “Lugi tayo sa jueteng/small-town lottery (We all end up being losers when we bet on jueteng/STL).” No matter how you look at it even from a perverted point of view there is no doubt that people who bet in the illegal numbers game are the losers.
Unfortunately launching an information campaign is not enough to discourage the gullible public that they have a better chance of getting hit by lightning than winning in an illegal numbers game.
The odds are stacked in favor of the ones running the legalized gambling enterprise thus in other nations outside of the Jueteng nation we call the Philippines strict regulation of the industry is in place to ensure that the industry complies with the strict standards of viability and business integrity with a strong gaming board or commissions with police powers to strictly enforce the law.
As it is the casinos have the upper hand and a small tweak here and there is like legalized holdup wherein bettors are better off handing over their money to the casinos thus casinos are subjected to higher standards with criminal liability of penalty with fines and imprisonment should they cross the line.
So what happens when you have an industry that is illegal wherein no agencies are out there to regulate how they conduct their illegal numbers game? Yes, you got it right, you might as well hand over your money to the gambling lord which is exactly what is happening in Pampanga the Jueteng Capital of the Philippines. No one is looking over their shoulders so they play by their own rules, to quote Anti-Gambling advocate Archbishop Oscar Cruz:
Unfortunately launching an information campaign is not enough to discourage the gullible public that they have a better chance of getting hit by lightning than winning in an illegal numbers game.
The odds are stacked in favor of the ones running the legalized gambling enterprise thus in other nations outside of the Jueteng nation we call the Philippines strict regulation of the industry is in place to ensure that the industry complies with the strict standards of viability and business integrity with a strong gaming board or commissions with police powers to strictly enforce the law.
As it is the casinos have the upper hand and a small tweak here and there is like legalized holdup wherein bettors are better off handing over their money to the casinos thus casinos are subjected to higher standards with criminal liability of penalty with fines and imprisonment should they cross the line. So what happens when you have an industry that is illegal wherein no agencies are out there to regulate how they conduct their illegal numbers game? Yes, you got it right, you might as well hand over your money to the gambling lord which is exactly what is happening in Pampanga the Jueteng Capital of the Philippines. No one is looking over their shoulders so they play by their own rules, to quote Anti-Gambling advocate Archbishop Oscar Cruz:
The truth of the matter however is that there are jueteng operations without any more “Bolador” or “Bola” properly speaking. Instead the “revisador” or bets-checker simply looks which combination numbers have the least bets-checker simply looks which combination numbers have the least bets. These are thereafter simply chosen as the winning ones. This choice is announced as such—with no questions entertained, much less any answer given.As if this is not bad enough corruption further exacerbate the problem especially when bribery reached all the way to the top dictating the outcome of the electoral process in a fraudulent prone exercise where transparency on the sources of funding are non-existent. End result is the rise of Jueteng Lords in the corridor of power some are known to broker political ambitions, channeling millions in campaign funds to those they favor in exchange for them turning a blind eye to their illegal business operations.
An estimated P64 million pesos is gambled every single day in the Philippines or as much as P23 billion pesos was reported back in 2000 and Loi Estrada (very authoritative I suppose coming from the wife of a convicted plunderer losing his presidency over Jueteng) in her introduction to a bill at the senate to legalize Jueteng reported P50 million pesos daily in Luzon alone. At present it is reportedly running at around P200 million pesos a day or P73 billion pesos a year, a lot of money wasted coming from gullible poor people.
In Angeles City alone in Pampanga the Jueteng Capital of the Philippines at the height of Jueteng the game operators netted on a regular basis P2 to 3 million a day with the chief city executive getting P1 million a week. That is just for one city with the mayor getting a windfall on a weekly basis so go figure how much goes to the provincial Governor, representatives, Provincial Commander all the way down the Barangay level? The going rate is around 30% of the revenues goes to the officials for protection, now that the province is under a man of integrity with the election of Governor “Among Ed” Panlilio where do you think that portion allocated to the governor goes? Extra money I suppose for the Jueteng Lord to channel the fund elsewhere that will afford him extra protection now that the government officials in his fiefdom is a threat to his greedy criminal operation.
Since getting elected Gov. Panlilio has insisted on Senior Supt. Cesar Hawthorne Binag as the next provincial police director a man of proven integrity and qualifications endorsed by Cardinal Vidal and 30 bishops but Gen. Avelino Razon head of the Philippine National Police has continuously denied said request insisting on naming other candidates. Why is it that Mr. Razon despite repeated request and demand to appoint Mr. Binag appointed escapes me?
The province is stuck with an acting provincial police chief Senior Superintendent Keith Singian that oddly appears on Razon's list of nominees like a canker sore that keep on coming back. The Pampanga Anti-Gambling Council did not think highly of Singian because of his assessment that jueteng does "not exist" in Pampanga. Is this guy blind or what? This is the guy that is policing the area that seems cross eyed at best unable to identify the very responsibility that he has to underTAKE (with emphasis on the TAKE, lol) that Razon insist for the province in shameless disregard for the governors legal right to appoint his own choice of Provincial Commander. Why Mr. Razon? What is it that he does not see that qualifies your "manok" (as in chicken) to hang on to a responsibility that he may not be capable of performing?
Another aberration is Atong Ang a convicted criminal and former gambling buddy of Erap together was videotaped in one of the casinos where the security guard responsible vanished miraculously without a trace openly violates the condition of his parole. In clear violation of the condition of his parole not to engage in any form of gambling shamelessly justifies his need to earn an income which he claims is part of the parole condition by acting as “consultant” to a firm engaged in STL. Hello, which part of the “any manner of gambling” did you not understand? If Atong Ang are openly disregarding his parole condition and knowing how dirty billions of pesos change hands Governor Panlilio’s Anti-Gambling campaign is faced with what appears to be an insurmountable hurdle….. we can choose to let evil prevail and forever sink us in the quagmire of desolation and desperation or stand behind the crusade for good governance and we may see the dawning of new beginning in our lifetime.
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Update 6/2/08:
The PNP (Philippine National Police) leadership has refused and denied to this day Gov. "Among Ed" Panlilio's the right to choose the right candidate for the Provincial Police Director. Please sign and spread among your network the Online petition in support of Among Ed's choice for Provincial Police Director.
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3 Speak Out:
I'm glad your exposing this issue. Once you have a corrupt regime infiltrating casinos, this can turn into a vicious cycle in which patrons are basically just filling the pockets of corrupt officials.
An archipelago of gambling islands -- started off by its bogus leader.
Hey BB/Anna, yes we need to get this out so the people will know.
What is sad was the fact that Erap was ousted due to jueteng and EDSA2 just replaced the jueteng lord with another one based in Pampanga the kumpadre of Gloria Arroyo.
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