Pro-government rallyists ask ‘balato’ from Atong

Were they cheering or jeering?

Pro-government demonstrators had a strange way of cheering gaming consultant Charlie "Atong" Ang, who went to the Senate for the second day of testimony on the jueteng scandal yesterday.

"Atong, balato! Atong, balato! Atong, balato!" the protesters chanted as Ang emerged from the Senate building after the five-hour hearing on the allegations of Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson that Malacañang received multimillion-peso payoffs.

Brandishing their anti-Singson and pro-Estrada streamers, the demonstrators cheered Ang on as he boarded a black Nissan Patrol van that promptly sped away without so much as a lotto ticket or jai alai tip in its wake.

Ang, who is a consultant of the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), is largely credited for the de facto legalization of jueteng through Bingo 2-Ball, whose operations however have been suspended.

After failing to get the attention of their idol, the rallyists shifted gears to focus on their original "mission" - that is, to express their full, unstinting support to the Estrada administration.

It was the second time that Ang caused a commotion at the ongoing Senate inquiry.

Earlier, Ang raised the hackles of Senate Blue Ribbon Committee chairman Sen. Aquilino Pimentel Jr. for his perceived attempt to conceal his actual address by referring all communications to the jai alai fronton office at the Harrison Plaza complex.

Pimentel also got irked by a jai alai official identified as Anna Rodriguez for allegedly trying to help cover up the address of the Pagcor consultant.

Ang and Rodriguez apologized to Pimentel, saying it was not their intention to mislead the committee.

The non-availability of Ang’s address resulted in the failure of the Senate Marines to serve a summons to him.

"You must stop acting like a slippery gangster," Pimentel told the poker-faced Ang.