PNP chief says entire RP now rid of 'jueteng'
Posted 11:47pm (Mla time) May 27, 2005
By Armand N. Nocum
Inquirer News Service
Editor's Note: Published on page A1 of the May 28, 2005 issue of the Philippine Daily Inquirer
AND THEN there was none.
"The whole of Luzon" is now "jueteng"-free, and Philippine National Police Director General Arturo Lomibao is thanking everyone for it.
Lomibao yesterday met with the fact-finding panel of the Department of Justice and said operations of the illegal numbers game had been stopped not only in five regions but throughout Luzon.
Told that certain quarters had doubted the PNP's ability to accomplish the task in so short a time, Lomibao replied: "Well, everybody cooperated. Everybody [worked] in unison ... No one is betting, nobody is collecting. We have to thank everybody for their cooperation."
But in a press conference at the airport in Legazpi City, Lomibao said the field reports that his office received as of noon on Thursday had yet "to be validated."
'99 percent'
In Manila, Chief Supt. Florante Baguio, chief of the PNP's Special Anti-Illegal Gambling Task Force, declared that the whole of Luzon was "99 percent" cleared of the poor man's lotto.
"As of 2 p.m. today, the regional directors of eight Luzon-based police regional offices certified that jueteng activities have completely stopped in their areas of responsibility as a result of continuous and relentless police operations," Baguio told reporters.
To explain why Luzon was only "99 percent" jueteng-free, Baguio said Pulilio Island in Region IV-A was not able to certify clearance.
"It is difficult to navigate toward Pulilio Island because of bad weather," he said. "Otherwise, jueteng is no more in the whole of Luzon.
Baguio said the last region to declare itself jueteng-free was Region IV-A or Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon). It submitted its report at around noon yesterday.
But the militant Kilusang Magbubukid ng Pilipinas is not impressed.
"Jueteng will just go underground for now and return with a vengeance next time if its main protectors ... remain scot-free," KMP information officer Carl Ala said in a text message.
Quoting reports from the KMP provincial chapters, Ala said jueteng operations had merely moved to the barrios. "This is happening in regions earlier declared jueteng-free," he said.