Malacañang washes hands of ‘shortened’ Senate jueteng probe

Malacañang on Saturday washed its hands of a reported plan by the Senate to cut short its investigation into alleged payoffs from the illegal but popular numbers game jueteng. Presidential Communications Operations Office head Herminio Coloma said the Palace does not interfere with the activities of Congress, which he said is a co-equal branch. “Hindi nakikialam ang ating pamahalaan sapagkat co-equal branch ang Congress, kasama roon ang Senado. Dapat gawin ang inaakala nilang nararapat (We do not interfere with the Senate investigation. The Senate is part of Congress, which is a co-equal branch of the executive department)," he said on government-run dzRB radio. On Friday, Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Teofisto Guingona III was quoted as saying they face a dead end as officials invited to testify will deny involvement in jueteng. Guingona was also quoted as saying he does not want to prolong the proceedings. Guingona ran for senator under President Benigno Aquino III’s Liberal Party. Last Tuesday, retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, who blew the whistle on the jueteng payoffs mess, named some government officials supposedly receiving jueteng payoffs. These included former police chief Jesus Verzosa and interior undersecretary Rico Puno, a friend of Aquino. However, Coloma insisted there was no Palace plot to manipulate the hearings to an early end. “There is no intention and there is no action by the executive branch to meddle in Congress’ activities and initiatives, and that includes activities of the Senate," he added. — LBG, GMANews.TV