2 jueteng couriers collared

A simple traffic violation gave away two jueteng couriers who yielded P67,300 cash bets when they were arrested yesterday in Pasig City. The arrest of Alberto Cruz, 26, and Mark Dionisio, 21, confirmed reports that jueteng really exists in Pasig City contrary to the claims of Mayor Soledad Eusebio that her city is "jueteng-free."

Police could not identify the jueteng financiers of Cruz and Dionisio, who were charged with illegal gambling and for violating traffic safety, rules and regulations before the Pasig City prosecutor’s office.

The suspects were riding on a motorcycle when they passed by Police Community Precinct 14 (PCP 14) located along Amang Rodriguez Avenue in Bgy. Dela Paz at 3 a.m. yesterday. Cruz, who was behind the wheel, was not wearing a safety helmet. Concerned over the safety of the two, policemen manning the police precinct flagged them down for verification. When frisked, however, the suspects yielded bundles of jueteng paraphernalia and cash bets prompting policemen to arrest them. The policemen also confiscated the motorcycle used by the suspects in their illegal gambling operation.

Cruz and Dionisio admitted they were working as couriers of a jueteng financier whom they, too, refused to identify.

The illegal gambling operators resorted to "guerrilla-type" operations in Pasig City since last month amid a word war between Eusebio and Chief Superintendent Rolando Sacramento over the exact area where six jueteng personnel were earlier arrested.

Eusebio, boasting that her city is "jueteng-free" insisted that the six jueteng personnel were arrested in Marikina City while Sacramento claimed they were apprehended in Pasig City.

Sacramento even filed illegal gambling charges against the six jueteng personnel in Pasig City to support his claim.

Because of Eusebio and Sacramento’s word war, Pasig City police chief Senior Superintendent Ernesto Atungal, ordered an intensified crackdown against illegal gambling in the city prompting jueteng financiers to resort to guerrilla-type operation. – Non Alquitran