Jueteng redux? C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S Jonathan De la Cruz 09/15/2010

Jueteng redux?

C.R.O.S.S.R.O.A.D.S

Jonathan De la Cruz

09/15/2010
It is good that President Aquino has ordered the DILG, PNP and now the BIR to go hammer and tongs against jueteng operators. Probably jolted by the latest revelations that the operators of the illegal numbers game have found new padrinos in his administration P-Noy has vowed to unmask the perpetrators and bring them to justice. The inclusion of the BIR in the task group is a take on the Al Capone story which happened during the Depression years in the US. It is related that US authorities had a hard time taking hold of the Chicago mobster and letting their charges stick even as they had every reason to believe that Capone really had his hands on every illegal activity including illegal gambling and other racketeering operations. He was as slippery as an eel. So, they got him via tax evasion charges, took him into custody and sentenced him to life imprisonment. Let’s hope that the authorities will be able to do the same to the operators and their backers, in and out of government, soon enough.

Inaalat (on a losing streak) is how many observers are now describing the series of negative reports which have been coming the Aquino administration’s way lately. Just as the Luneta hostage carnage was fading in the public view aided somehow by P-Noy’s public statements and the Chinese government’s avowals of trust and comity, we have this latest jolt from anti-jueteng crusader Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz that two (or is it five) administration officials are getting millions of pesos in “payola” from the illegal numbers game. Cruz, who heads the Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Jueteng had earlier linked just two close P-Noy aides to the alleged payoffs but immediately corrected himself saying the number is more than that. He named five additional, mostly local, officials. If I were DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo and his deputy in charge of police affairs, Undersecretary Rico Puno,.... MORE
Source:  The Daily Tribune

URL: http://www.tribuneonline.org/commentary/20100915com4.html