Archbishop tags gov't 'unbelievable'

“Appalling, unbelievable and disturbing” was how Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz described the government’s claim that it still has not identified the jueteng lords, their protectors and beneficiaries.

Cruz made this reaction after Malacañang urged him to name the four national government officials and six local chief executives he cited as being on the payroll of illegal gambling operators.

He informed the national media that the four national officials are receiving P10 million in jueteng payola from gambling financiers while the six mayors are getting  at least P500,000 a month from jueteng operations in their localities.

Presidential Spokesman Ignacio Bunye earlier prompted the archbishop to identify the officials so they can be prosecuted.

Cruz, former president of the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines and national chairman of the Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Jueteng (Jueteng-Free Philippines), wondered where all the multi-billion intelligence funds went since the government appeared not to know anything.

“What have all its investigative agencies done?”, he asked.

Cruz was incredulous as he pointed out that the government spends a lot “to know who is what” even wants to do more of the same yet it does not even know who is who in the jueteng world.

He added that “Practically all the Juans, Joses and Tonys in the streets know. And the government does not know?”

Again, he wondered what will take the government to know if it does not know “who gets what from whom and how much in conjunction with jueteng” which he said is openly held in many nooks and corners in the country.

Cruz chided Malacañang for wanting “the puny Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Jueteng” to do its work..

Unlike the government, Cruz said the anti-jueteng crusade has no intelligence fund, no investigative arm. He said it’s but a “Hail Mary” Movement which means that its volunteers each get but a short prayer for all their sweat and toil. When they meet, they provide for their needs, when they need some money to spend, they draw from their little and shallow pockets, he added.

On the identity of the protectors of Jueteng, the archbishop maintained that “those who get big fat jueteng payolas know who they are. No need to tell them their own names.”

And for those who hands are clean, no need either for them to be worried-much less to be curiously defensive.

Asked by The PUNCH about the threats to his life, he simply said,” I’m still okay. I’m still alive.”-ECV

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