PNP official’s brod in ‘jueteng’ payola?

THE brother of a ranking official of the Philippine National Police is receiving P2 million a month from a jueteng operator in Luzon, according to a source of The Manila Times.

The source, a civilian with connections in Camp Crame, said that this brother of the national police brass gets his monthly jueteng payola from gambling lord, Bong Pineda. He said that the main “line” of the brother is actually smuggling and not jueteng.

Pineda, the source said, is giving the payola to maintain his jueteng operation in most of Luzon. Charing Magbuhos is reportedly Pineda’s ally in operating jueteng in Quezon and Laguna. Pineda and Magbuhos had figured in almost all jueteng investigations by the House of Representatives and the Senate.

Magbuhos’ turf is being run by a certain Ed “Kabayo” Gonzales, who claimed to have some connections with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. Gonzales is often

seen in Metro Manila casinos every weekend and usually loses millions of pesos, the source added.

A certain Ramon Preza also operates jueteng in Laguna. He has reportedly acquired about P200 million properties in the province, something that the Bureau of Internal Revenue and the Anti-Money Laundering Council can look into.

Preza reportedly drops the names of President Benigno Aquino 3rd’s sisters Balsy and Pinky and the father of incumbent Rep. Ivy Arago of Laguna.

The source said that Tarlac, the home province of the President, was also not spared from jueteng. He said that jueteng operation in the province has the blessing of a very high provincial police officer, enabling the illegal numbers game to rake in a daily earning of P7 million to P9 million. Pineda reportedly rules one of two

jueteng “kingdoms.” The other clique is said to be under former president Joseph “Erap” Estrada’s former friend and gambling buddy, Atong Ang, who now runs a jai-alai fronton using his company Meridien Vista Gaming Corp.

“Not only are policemen on the take. It has been known that money from jueteng even reached as high as the Palace,” the source said, alluding to the seat of power.

Insiders said that this is the rea- son why the Department of Interior and Local Government could not totally wipe out jueteng.

The illegal numbers game again hogged the headlines after a Pangasinan mayor claimed that Gov. Amado Espino of Pangasinan is a

jueteng protector in the province. Interior Secretary Manuel “Mar” Roxas 2nd, also president of the Liberal Party (LP), has given police protection to Mayor Rodrigo Orduna of Bugallon, Pangasinan.

Espino, who is seeking a third and last term against LP gubernatorial bet Mayor Hernani Braganza of Alaminos City, was charged with plunder by Orduna before the Office of the Ombudsman, claiming that the governor allegedly accepted P900 million in payoffs from jueteng operators in the last 10 years.

A political analyst has expressed belief that Orduna’s claim was politically motivated.

Dr. Perla Legaspi, former director of the UP Center for Local and Regional Governance and former vice chancellor of UP Diliman, also questioned why Orduna came out with his expose only now that the 2013 election is drawing near.

“Obvious na obvious na politika lang talaga at ang layunin ay sirain ang imahe ni Espino dahil balita ko malakas ang incumbent governor doon [It is very obvious that this is politically motivated and the objective is to tarnish the image of Espino who, I’ve heard, is strong there],” said Legaspi, now the program head and professor at Lyceum-Northwestern University, a school in Dagupan City, Pangasinan.

Earlier, retired Lingayen Dagupan archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz claimed that jueteng continues to flourish because government lacks interest in eradicating it.

He cited the President’s statement that eradicating jueteng was not his administration’s priority. He also claimed that jueteng operators no longer conduct their own draws since the winning numbers are based on the results of draws held by small town lotteries under the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.

“There are three things that are exempted in President [Beningo Aquino 3rd]’s matuwid na daan: Jueteng, Hacienda Luisita and the KKK,” Cruz said.