Retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz advised President Benigno Aquino III against giving "too much due process" to the government officials linked to payoffs from the illegal numbers game jueteng. Cruz gave the advice after Aquino rejected suggestions to let go of Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno until he gets "due process." At a Senate hearing on jueteng on Tuesday, Cruz named Puno and retired Philippine National Police Chief Jesus Verzosa as among those who were allegedly receiving "jueteng payoffs." Those named by Cruz as alleged jueteng lords and operators were:
Governor Baby Pineda of Pampanga; Paul Dy of Isabela; Retired general Eugene Martin of Baguio City; Mayor Mauricio Domogan of Baguio City; Danny Soriano of Cagayan; a certain retired "General Padilla" operating in Pasay, Parañaque, Muntinlupa, and San Pedro; Governor Amado Espino in Pangasinan, and Boy Jalandoni of Bacolod. Cruz said he is willing to be proven wrong about his allegations. “Bakit hindi, baka sakaling mali (kami). Di naman kami mga diyos na puro tama ang aming kaalaman. Pero yan ang kaalaman namin yan ang aming sinabi," Cruz said in an interview on dwIZ radio. (Why not give him the chance to disprove the allegations? I never said we are gods who are infallible. But I have disclosed this because this is the information I got.) The prelate added he is all for Puno getting all possible chances to disprove the allegations against him. Puno had denied receiving jueteng payoffs, claiming the allegations were part of a smear drive against him. However, Cruz warned Aquino he may be inviting more problems if he insists on keeping Puno. "Siya ang bahala. Kapag ito di niya remedyuhan, siya ang magkakaroon ng problema (Of course, this is up to Aquino to resolve. But if he does not resolve it soon, he will run into problems)," he said. He cited a passage from the Bible quoting Christ as saying, “And if your right hand causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away." Puno denied the allegations and offered to give Aquino his courtesy resignation after the President returns from a working visit in the United States on September 28. Aquino, however, said he wants to give Puno full due process. Meanwhile, Cruz said he will present new witnesses who have “firshand" knowledge of jueteng operations at the next hearing. “Mga firsthand witnesses ito (These are firsthand witnesses)," he said but declined to give further details. Jueteng measuring stick of Aquino’s anti-graft commitment Some Catholic bishops now consider jueteng as a measuring stick of Aquino’s commitment to fighting graft. Catarman (Samar) Bishop Emmanuel Trance appealed to Aquino to “walk the talk" when he vowed to lead the country towards a “straight path." “He will never succeed against corruption if cannot make a (dent against) jueteng ... Its proliferation means there are still government officials and police officers who are corrupted by the jueteng," Trance said in an article posted on the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines news site. On the other hand, Pampanga Auxiliary Bishop Pablo David said jueteng can always be curbed if not eradicated, if government shows political will. David said it is high time government make “raids and arrests," including those of public officials coddling jueteng operators. “If jueteng will be stopped, the respect of the people to the police and local government officials can be restored," David said in an interview on Church-run Radio Veritas. He said the government should do something about the problem “if they do not want to lose our respect for the officials of the Aquino administration." – VVP, GMANews.TV 
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