Spokesman: Comelec helpless vs jueteng money in campaigns

With the Oct. 25 barangay (village) and Sangguniang Kabataan (youth council) elections just a month away, he Commission on Elections admitted Friday it is helpless against politicians using jueteng money to fund their campaigns during elections. Comelec spokesman James Jimenez said the present election law does not provide the poll body with power to determine where election campaign funds are coming from. “If we don’t know where the funds are coming from then we don’t have the basis to say they are getting the money from [the illegal numbers game] jueteng. If we can’t prove it, we really can’t do anything about it," he said in an article on the Catholic Bishops' Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) news site. He said it is up to Congress to craft laws that will effectively address the problem. “These are one of the things that we said we are going to look at improving on after the elections. It may need some type of legislative initiatives. What is important is for us to find a more effective way of discovering the source of funding," he added. Earlier, retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said jueteng is gaining strength again as the barangay and SK (Sangguniang Kabataan) elections draw near. He said jueteng operations usually intensify during election season, with proceeds going to campaign kitties of candidates who protect jueteng operators. “For this election, jueteng again will be more active. It is not improbable that they will draw four times a day so that they will get more funds," said Cruz. — LBG, GMANews.TV