Senate suspends jueteng hearings

Sen. Manuel Villar has indefinitely suspended the Senate jueteng inquiry because there are no "very material witnesses" left to be summoned to the probe, which he added has become politically charged.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel Jr., however, wants the two Senate committees conducting the hearings to summon three suspected jueteng operators before finally ending the probe.

Villar said he is personally not too keen on the proposal, arguing the Senate has to be careful on the issue of suspected jueteng operators because the allegations against them have not yet been proven.

The Senate has so far conducted eight hearings on the jueteng controversy and according to Villar, the matter has become a source of division among senators.

"So unless a very material witness would surface to add something significant or would change our conclusion and if this would be approved by majority of the members of the committees, the hearings are suspended for the meantime," Villar said.

"The hearings have become politically charged in such a way that even if I wanted to limit the discussions to jueteng other issues would come in because of the involvement of the First Family. That is why I decided to suspend the hearings and, anyway, maybe we are already finished since there are no more witnesses," he said.

Pimentel reiterated he would agree to set a termination date for the hearings but insisted that Villar and Lapid should allow any new witnesses to come forward and testify before concluding the hearings.

"The important thing is we agree to put an end to it with a particular date but allow us to submit some specific proposed number of witnesses because there are still witnesses who are willing to surface," he said.

Pimentel has asked Villar and Lapid, chairmen of the Senate committees on public order and illegal drugs and committee on games, amusement and sports, respectively, to summon Batangas Gov. Armando Sanchez, suspected big-time jueteng operator Rodolfo "Bong" Pineda and his wife Lilia, a friend of President Arroyo and a member of the Pampanga provincial board, to the hearings to testify about alleged payoffs to Mrs. Arroyo and her family.

Pimentel pointed out that in separate reports from the Department of Justice and the People’s Crusade Against Jueteng, Sanchez was identified as one of the big-time jueteng operators in the country.

Pimentel expressed dismay that Villar and Lapid had failed to summon Sanchez after returning from an official trip to Japan last month.

Sanchez was supposed to appear before one of the hearings last month but was excused because of his scheduled trip to Japan.

"But now that Governor Sanchez is already here, no invitation has been sent to him to attend the Senate hearing. It seems that there are people trying to protect him," Pimentel said.

The Pineda couple has also been mentioned numerous times during the jueteng hearings as financiers of an alleged plan to rig last year’s presidential election in favor of Mrs. Arroyo.

Former presidential aide Michelangelo Zuce recently alleged that Lilia Pineda had distributed bribes to several election officials in early 2004 during a meeting with Mrs. Arroyo at the President’s house.

Last Wednesday, army captain Marlon Mendoza told the inquiry that Pineda gave P300 million to former election commissioner Virgilio Garcillano to finance the rigging of the May 2004 election results.

Garcillano, who had allegedly conspired with Mrs. Arroyo to manipulate the May 2004 vote, is currently the subject of a nationwide police manhunt after he snubbed a House inquiry on the alleged cheating.

Pimentel said it is incumbent on the part of Villar and Lapid to summon the Pinedas.

Even though the couple has denied the allegations against them in a published statement, Pimentel said they should still appear before the Senate to air their side.

Villar said Sanchez would be the first person he would summon for the hearings if committee members decide to conduct a province-by-province probe of jueteng operations.

The Pinedas would be invited next but according to Villar, he would not do this unless the majority agreed to the proposal.

A province-by-province probe would be a very tedious undertaking since there are at least 20 suspected jueteng bosses in the list of witnesses, Villar added.

The bribery allegations against Mrs. Arroyo’s family have compounded her political crisis over charges of electoral cheating.

The issue of politicians’ alleged involvement in the extremely lucrative jueteng racket has haunted several presidential administrations.

Mrs. Arroyo first took office in 2001 after her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, was toppled by a military-backed popular uprising spawned by accusations that he was profiting as a protector of jueteng operations.

Despite repeated government crackdowns, the small-town lotteries continue to thrive because local officials and the police reportedly have taken bribes and turn a blind eye.

Politicians are widely believed to be receiving huge political campaign donations from illegal gambling barons during elections.

Proposals to legalize jueteng in the past were promptly shot down mainly because of opposition from the Catholic Church.

Proponents say the game should be legalized because it is impossible to eradicate and the government could earn taxes from it. They also say it is hypocritical of the government to stamp out jueteng while it operates casinos and lotteries.

Critics say legalizing jueteng promotes a "culture of gambling." — Marvin Sy