Slain jueteng man has Siman's 'blue book'

MANILA, Philippines - Fernando “Pandoy” Morales knew too much about the illegal numbers game operations of alleged jueteng lord Victorino Siman that he, too has to go to prevent him from exposing the gambling payoffs to national and local government officials.

The 46-year-old Morales, like his former boss who was killed along with 12 others in a police checkpoint in Atimonan, Quezon last January 6, was slain in an alleged shootout with policemen out to serve him a two-year-old court warrant of arrest at his house in Barangay Lipahan, San Juan, Batangas at about 1:30 a.m. last Monday.

“As Siman’s former gambling administrator, Morales has a blue book in his possession containing the names of government and police officials who are in the take and  are serving as protectors of the illegal numbers games in Southern Tagalog,” said a senior security official who asked not be named.

Aside from the “blue book,” Morales reportedly has also in his possession several documents that when made public would result in a major scandal involving national and local officials.

Siman, from a small-time video karera and nightclub operator in Calamba City, hit it big in the illegal gambling industry in Southern Tagalog after the 2010 presidential elections.

“The raid was no ordinary police operations as the Batangas provincial police office could have carried it out on their own. There must be somebody up there who ordered the raid,” the official said.

In a separate interview, another official whose unit is also involved in anti-crime operations, confirmed that Morales worked for Siman as his administrator in bookies operations.

As administrator, Morales was directly in charge of paying out monthly payolas to protectors of Siman's illegal gambling operations.

“Why the rush? While I don’t know the real reason why the raid was carried out and why it was executed in the wee hours of the morning, like the rest of my colleagues, I smell something fishy,” the official said, adding the raiding team could have waited to serve the two-year-old warrant against Morales at day time.