Central Luzon ‘jueteng-free’ — police

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — Believe it or not. Central Luzon, considered a haven of illegal gambling, is now "jueteng-free."

So declared Chief Superintendent Oscar Calderon, regional police director, yesterday, saying their anti-crime efforts will now focus on the growing illegal drugs trade.

"All my field commanders have already declared their areas jueteng-free. The last one to (make such a declaration) was Nueva Ecija," he said.

The other Central Luzon provinces are Bulacan, Pampanga, Bataan, Zambales, Tarlac and Aurora.

Earlier, Calderon said ‘jueteng-free’ means operations of the illegal numbers game have been reduced by 80 percent. The other day, Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Mendoza declared his turf, Pampanga, "almost 100 percent jueteng-free."

In Tarlac, Senior Superintendent Mario Sandiego, provincial police director, said they have received feedback that jueteng operators are planning to employ "guerrilla" tactics in reviving the illegal numbers game on a "small-time basis."

These efforts, he said, are reportedly being attempted in the outskirts of Tarlac, particularly in the provincial boundary with Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and Pangasinan.

Sandiego, however, said, "As far as I know, the entire province is now 100 percent free from jueteng."

"But we will pounce on these ‘guerrilla’ operations once we have verified them and identified their protectors, financiers and operators," he said.

Sandiego said these "guerrilla" jueteng operators normally cluster two to three barangays and bring the bets to remote Pangasinan towns for the daily draws, to evade arrest in Tarlac.

The most effective way to detect such operations, he said, is for the police to work closely with barangay officials.

"They (barangay officials) are like foremen. They can tell us who are behind these illegal activities, and how and where are these being done," he said.

While instructing the provincial police commands to still keep watch of the possible resurgence of jueteng, Calderon also told them to step up their efforts against drug syndicates.

Calderon could not say how much prohibited drugs are being traded in Central Luzon, but said that "more than 40 percent" of criminal gangs in the region are involved in illegal drugs.

"We are keeping an eye on a possible drug factory somewhere in Bulacan, but we believe that most of the illegal drugs in Central Luzon come from Metro Manila, involving mostly Chinese nationals," he said. — With Benjie Villa