Bishops, officials, police block jueteng’s return in Quezon

LUCENA CITY – A Catholic bishop, local government officials and the police in Quezon strongly opposed the revival of the illegal numbers game jueteng in the province.

Diocese of Lucena Bishop Emilio Marquez vowed to issue a pastoral letter to warn politicians not to taint the elections by using campaign funds from illegal sources, particularly jueteng, payola and drug money.

A weekly paper in Quezon quoted Marquez as saying that based from his own sources, the planned resumption of jueteng in Quezon has the go signal of a Cabinet official and a ranking Philippine National Police (PNP) officer based in Camp Crame.

Marquez reportedly identified the suspected jueteng operators who have been zealously pushing for the resumption of the illegal numbers game in the province as a certain Fany Abella and one Tony Ong.

The bishop appealed to various law enforcers to act on the report.

According to Quezon police chief Senior Superintendent Victorio Caragan Jr., a group of jueteng lords attempted to restart the illegal numbers game in Mulanay town on Thursday but he immediately ordered the local police force to stop it.

He vowed that the entire police force in Quezon would not allow jueteng to resume operation.

Earlier, a source from among Quezon town mayors revealed the plan of gambling brokers to revive the illegal numbers in the province.

The mayor, who requested anonymity, said the group has been soliciting the support of local chief executives to petition the small town lottery (STL) operation to pave the way for the revival of jueteng in exchange for big monthly payola in time for the coming elections.

Candelaria Mayor David Emralino, president of the Quezon Mayors League, confirmed the report but he said he had opposed its revival and vowed that the organization will strongly oppose it.

The government-run STL in Quezon is on a one-year trial run as the legal alternative to jueteng.