Gambling stops in Malasiqui

MALASIQUI, Pangasinan — This town’s mayor no longer have to be "shot."

This, as no less than Archbishop Oscar Cruz said yesterday that jueteng had stopped here three days after the archdiocese released a survey showing that the illegal numbers game was "rampant."

Denying the survey results, Mayor Alfonso Soriano said the other day that he was willing to be shot if jueteng was proven to exist in his turf.

Cruz said he was happy with the developments because "it means our campaign has an effect."

"We have the truth," he said.

Soriano said he asked the town’s parish priest yesterday morning to issue a "certification" that there was no jueteng here, particularly in Barangay Canan, where the mayor hails from.

Soriano quoted the priest as saying that he was willing to heed the request. But Cruz cautioned the priest to be careful about the dates covered by such a "certification."

Meanwhile, Chief Superintendent Arturo Lomibao, regional police director, said in a radio interview that his intelligence personnel were "validating" the survey results.

According to the survey, jueteng was also "rampant" in Mangaldan town, where Lomibao, incidentally, hails from.