Lina: We got jueteng ‘big fish’

Yes, a big fish has been caught.

Interior and Local Go-vernment Secretary Jose Lina Jr. said yesterday that a big-time jueteng lord was among the more than 6,000 people arrested since he renewed the government’s crusade against the illegal numbers game last April.

Lina was reacting to a STAR story that claimed nothing substantial had been accomplished in the first 100 days of the campaign. It was reported that up to now, not a single big-time operator has been put in jail and the game continues to flourish in Metro Manila and in the provinces.

"There was a big fish arrested by the PNP (Philippine National Police), and he is Melchor Caluag alias Ngongo," he said.

Caluag, a former barangay official, allegedly operated jueteng in Pangasinan. He was arrested by police on June 25, but managed to secure temporary liberty after posting P10,000 bail.

Lina, who had vowed to quit if he failed stop jueteng in 100 days, said the campaign of the PNP and the DILG’s special operations group has led to the arrest of 6,712 people in 3,741 anti-gambling operations from May 6 to Aug. 9. Confiscated were cash bets amounting to P1,958,800.

Lina said it was inaccurate to claim that nothing substantial was accomplished in the first 100 days of the drive, as no less than former Catholics Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines

(CBCP) president Archbishop Oscar Cruz pointed out that jueteng has become non-existent in the towns of Mangaldan, Basista, Malasiqui, Bayambang and in several barangays of Dagupan, Calasiao, Laoac, Manaoag, Urbiztondo and San Carlos City in Pangasinan.

Cruz also said that jueteng is now moderate in Dagupan City, San Fabian, San Jacinto and Lingayen.

The archbishop attributed the positive development to the immediate and concerted action of local officials and police authorities on the jueteng issue.

"Honestly, it is fear of your office (DILG), more than any moral consideration that makes them move. This is true especially on the part of the chiefs of police," Cruz told Lina in a letter.

However, sources claimed that jueteng continues to flourish under the very noses of the police and Task Force Jericho, Lina’s anti-illegal gambling task force. An unidentified police general claimed that members of Jericho have been receiving monthly protection money from gambling lords and financiers, especially in the Bicol region.

Police Superintendent Noel Estanislao, chief of Task Force Jericho, challenged the source of the report to come out and substantiate the allegations.

"I hope the source would come out into the open to substantiate his allegations so that so that proper legal action can be made against operatives and officers whom he has accused of receiving jueteng money," he said. "If the police general is sincere in his allegations, then he could even lead the government’s campaign against illegal gambling.

Estanislao said Lina will not tolerate such activities, if the allegations are indeed true.

He noted that the DILG chief ordered the immediate relief of some Jericho members in Manila after hearing of reports about their alleged extortion activities.

"This goes to show that there are no sacred cows, not even those in Jericho," Estanislao said.