Senator: No Palace pressure to end jueteng probe

Even as he postponed the next hearing on the matter for Thursday, an administration-allied senator insisted Monday that there is no pressure from Malacañang to cut short an investigation on the illegal but popular numbers game jueteng. In a radio interview, Senate blue ribbon committee chairman Teofisto Guingona III branded as unfair some newspaper reports insinuating he was cutting short the jueteng investigation due to Palace pressure. "Number one, hindi nakikialam ang Palasyo, never tumawag sa akin ang Palasyo. Number two, hindi totoo na ... ang misquote sa akin, putting words in my mouth sa English, sabi ko I will not prolong the hearing. (Pero) ang sabi sa dyaryo I will cut short. Iba ang prolonged, iba ang cut short," Guingona told radio dzBB in an interview. (Number one, the Palace never interfered, much less called me up to cut the investigation short. Number two, I was misquoted when I said I will not prolong the hearing. A newspaper made it appear I was cutting the probe short.) He was referring to a newspaper report last Saturday quoting him as saying he will cut short the latest Senate probe on jueteng. "I don’t think that is fair to me," he said of the insinuations. Palace denies pressure on Guingona Guingona won a Senate seat under the Liberal Party. President Benigno Aquino III is also a member of the LP. On Saturday, Malacañang washed its hands off the issue, insisting it never pressured Guingona to cut the investigation, which stemmed from the revelations of retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz. (See: Malacañang washes hands of ‘shortened’ Senate jueteng probe) Cruz had linked some officials to jueteng payoffs, including Interior Undersecretary Rico Puno and former Philippine National Police head Jesus Verzosa. Puno and Verzosa have denied the claims. But while he denied cutting the investigation short, Guingona said he does not want to prolong the matter. "Ang ibig kong sabihin, we will not prolong. Ayaw ko na dalawang buwan nakalipas naghe-hearing pa tayo. If we will investigate each and every development... baka abutin tayo ng Christmas, nag-iimbestiga pa ako (What I meant was that we will not prolong the investigation. I do not want to still be holding hearings by Christmas)," he said. "Very, very conscious ako sa nagsasabi ano ba yan imbestiga ng imbestiga walang nangyayari. Gusto ko may mangyari, hindi ko papatagalin (I am very conscious of critics chiding us for investigating without getting results. I want to get results so I will not prolong the investigation)," he added. Past Senate investigations on jueteng During the 10th Congress, the Senate blue ribbon committee conducted a total of eight hearings on the proliferation of jueteng operations in the country. The Senate then came out with a series of recommendations, including the amendment of laws that would increase the penalties for those found guilty of illegal gambling; include the protection of jueteng operators under the graft and corruption; remove from PAGCOR the power to grant casino franchises; declare lotto illegal; and remove or replace all police officers assigned to areas where illegal gambling still exists. During the 13th Congress, there were also eight hearings conducted on jueteng under the Senate committee on public order and illegal drugs. The Senate, however, did not come out with a recommendation during that time. Meanwhile, Guingona said he has moved the next hearing from Tuesday this week to Thursday, on the request of Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo. Robredo is to be one of the resource persons in this week’s hearing. Other resource persons invited to Thursday’s hearing include Puno, Verzosa, PNP chief Director General Raul Bacalzo, and representatives from the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office. Guingona said trader Tonyboy Cojuangco has also been invited to the hearing but is still abroad and has not confirmed his attendance. "I think he is sending a letter," he said. — RSJ, GMANews.TV