‘Jueteng lord’ out on bail

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — A suspected jueteng lord, who ran for barangay chairman here and won, was arrested on gambling charges by the police the other day.

But Melchor Caluag, alias Ngongo, stayed for only an hour at the city jail because he was able to post P10,000 bail.

He was arrested on the strength on warrants issued by Judges Jocelyn Solis-Reyes of Mabalacat and Magalang and Domingo San Jose of this city for alleged violation of Presidential Decree 1602 or the anti-gambling law.

Caluag, 32, won by a landslide over eight rivals as chairman of Barangay Dolores in this city’s prime business district.

He is reportedly facing another illegal gambling case in the office of assistant provincial prosecutor Celerina Caballero-Pineda in connection with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raid on his residence in Dolores on June 15 last year.

The raid allegedly yielded a ledger containing the names of ranking police officers and politicians supposedly receiving payola from jueteng. The NBI was said to have turned over the ledger to the police which, however, could no longer account for it.