Bishop gives police chief flunking grade in fight vs jueteng

An anti-gambling crusader, retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, has given Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Director General Jesus Verzosa, a failing grade in the fight against jueteng. According to Cruz, Verzosa, who is scheduled to retire from the police force this week, gets a failing grade because did not respond to letters from his group, the Kilusang Bayan Laban sa Jueteng (KBLJ). “Sorry, I cannot give him a passing mark, I’m sorry. To grade him 70 or 65, that’s the most," Cruz said in an interview on dzXL radio. He also lamented that Verzosa allegedly did not accomplish much in the fight against jueteng, an illegal numbers game. Cruz said KBLJ had written to Verzosa, who is scheduled to retire on September 15, at least twice about jueteng, but did not any reply from the outgoing police chief. “Sinulatan siya dalawang beses sa jueteng. Noong una sinagot ng isang director ng isang lugar, di siya sumagot. Sa ikalawa, wala na akong sagot," Cruz said. (We wrote him two times about jueteng. In the first instance, a local police official replied. In the second instance, we got no reply at all.) Last weekend, Cruz disclosed that at least two officials of the Aquino administration are allegedly receiving some P2 million a month from jueteng. He did not name the officials. Meanwhile, Cruz belied speculations his expose on jueteng is meant to deflect criticism against Secretary Jesse Robredo of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) over recent issues. Robredo had been under fire for his handling of the August 23 hostage incident where eight Hong Kong tourists and the hostage-taker himself, Rolando Mendoza, were killed. Cruz said that while his anti-jueteng group had feted Robredo for his anti-gambling achievements, it would not go so far as to protect him. Besides, the bishop said he never expected his expose on jueteng to become a major issue as he considered the involvement of officials in jueteng payolas “common knowledge." “Walang kinalaman yan sa sinusuportahan namin si Sec. Robredo. Masyadong makitid yan para sa amin. Ang amin, labanan ang jueteng. Sino kakampi namin kakampi namin kung sino ang kalaban namin kalaban namin. Pero di namin gagamitin ang jueteng para suportahan ang sinumang tao sapagka’t that is parochial, that is too restrictive in vision and mission," Cruz said. (The expose has nothing to do with support for Robredo. That is too narrow-minded. As far as we are concerned, we will just fight jueteng. We will not use this crusade to support allies. That is too restrictive in vision and mission.) –VVP, GMANews.TV