Hagedorn does it again

Edward Hagedorn, Mayor of Puerto Princesa, is also the chairman of the League of Cities. But more than those tasks, he has credibility in leading the crusade to check jueteng, the illegal numbers game rooted in the local government.

President GMA has appointed him anti-jueteng czar because of his impressive credentials in stamping out jueteng in Puerto Princesa during his first term. The story goes that when former DILG chief Rafael Alunan asked Hagedorn how he was able to stop jueteng in Puerto, the mayor answered that he simply stopped his own operations and pronto, there was no more jueteng in the city.

Hagedorn has always believed that jueteng can be checked if the mayor wants them eliminated. He was able to do it in Puerto Princesa, why can't other mayors do it in their respective towns?

Hagedorn, reporting to the president at the end of his mandate last September 15, said that organized jueteng from Regions 1 to 5 have been checked. However, there are still small operations, known as guerillas, which continue to operate. But Hagedorn dismisses them as very small, capable of being checked with minor police operations.

But how did the mayor do it? We didn't read about massive police operations mounted to arrest jueteng lords, but the mayor is now saying jueteng has been stamped. The answer consists of two words - friendly persuasion.

The mayor said that the battle against jueteng consists of three stages. Friendly persuasion, law enforcement and legalizing jueteng through small-time lottery, the mayor said, can be effective in eliminating this kind of gambling that is already ingrained among Filipinos.

In his case, he only applied friendly persuasion among the mayors because his task force also includes a member from the town mayors' league. As for the law enforcement and lottery, these are jobs for the political leadership and not for the task force.

Under his watch, Hagedorn initiated dialogues with jueteng lords based in the Ilocos region and in Batangas. Using diplomatic dexterity, he talked with Governor Chavit Singson of Ilocos Norte and Governor Sanchez of Batangas. He involved them in the dialogues with the mayors, telling them that the president is earnest in checking jueteng. Hagedorn talked with every big operator in the jueteng community. And he knows them because he was once an operator.

All the jueteng operators pledged to Hagedorn that they will stop their operations. Whether they will comply with their promise beyond the deadline is anybody's guess, but Hagedorn has told them that the next phase would be law enforcement. This shall be carried out by the Philippine National Police.

On the long-term plan to replace jueteng with a legal game, Hagedorn believes that this could now be done under the auspices of the PCSO. There are still remaining problems about this proposal, but the mayor thinks the proposal is sound. He adds that while jueteng can probably be checked for some time, but gambling seems to be part of our culture. There is such a big urge for Filipinos to gamble, a practice that must be redirected.

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Second-hand car being debated

The policy on second-hand car, trucks and equipment is still being debated, not only in Subic but also in Manila. Last Saturday, auctioneer Dominique Sytin went to the Sulo Hotel Forum to press the government to allow importation of second-hand cars.

He says there is no legal impediment for the auctioneers to import because the courts allow this practice. But the problem is the P500,000 tax that the BIR is imposing for every imported car, truck or equipment. This additional tax, imposed under an order by President Arroyo, makes the second-hand car not competitive.

Mr. Sytin says their business is down, but government revenues are down too, by 97 percent as reported by Customs Commissioner Alexander Arevalo. The only sector benefiting are the car assemblers of the Philippines who have lobbied hard for the passage of this P500,000 safeguard duty.

My view is that the government should keep the balance in policy. While we understand that government should protect the car assemblers, we should also protect the second-hand importers who contribute to the economy in terms of employment and lowering the cost of commodities.

It was said that most of the trucks plying the highways and bringing goods are mostly second-hand cars bought from Subic. Can you imagine if these trucks were bought from the assemblers? The price of the goods would have been staggering.

We are a third-world country where only a few people can buy the trucks, cars and equipments sold by the assemblers. We should also have the option to buy second-hand cars because they are safe, cheap and efficient.

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BRIEF NOTES. I am sad that the Philippine basketball team was not able to join the Asian Basketball Confederation Championships held in Doha, Qatar. It would have been an experience for the national team... China won the ABC, starring Yao Ming, in an exciting game with Lebanon...