New PNP chief vows full support in anti-jueteng drive

Deputy Director General Raul Bacalzo, on his first day as chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP), vowed full cooperation in the government’s campaign against the illegal numbers game jueteng. In an interview aired on GMA News’ “24 Oras" Tuesday, Bacalzo said their action will be in line with Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) secretary Jesse Robredo’s plan for a "more holistic" approach in dealing with the jueteng problem. "May pinaplano si [Interior and Local Government] Secretary [Jesse] Robredo na more or less ay more holistic approach sa bagay na yan. Kami naman sa dimension ng law enforcement, gagawin namin yung parte namin," he said. (Interior and Local Government Secretary Jesse Robredo is planning a more holistic approach on this matter, so we in law enforcement will do our part.)

The report said President Benigno Aquino III has dismissed rumors that Bacalzo himself was a protector of jueteng operators. DILG undersecretary Rico Puno, who was present during the turnover ceremony at Camp Crame, bared that at least 10 emissaries of gambling lords had approached him to seek audience with President Aquino. "Yung iba kasi mga kamag-anak ko pa ginagamit nila. Yung iba naman, mga government officials. Meron ding pari, kung minsan (Some do it through my relatives, other through government officials or even priests)," he said in the same report. Jueteng once again reached national headlines after retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, a known anti-gambling crusader, revealed that two officials in the Aquino government are receiving monthly jueteng payola amounting to at least P2 million. Malacañang has urged Cruz to produce names, evidence and participate in investigations, but the bishop declined, saying he fears for the security of witnesses. He cited the unsolved case of Wilfredo Mayor, a witness in the Senate investigation on jueteng in 2005 who was shot dead in February this year. "If they will summon me (to an investigation), I will go there, yes. However, we will just stare at each other eye-to-eye," Cruz said at a Church-sponsored forum in Manila on Tuesday. - Larissa Mae Suarez/KBK, GMANews.TV