Damned if you do, damned if you don't

The numbers game has been in existence for more than a century in this country and no matter who is in power, jueteng will always be a major cause of headache and embarrassment with president after president declaring war on the illegal numbers game, only for it to come back “when no one is looking.” Today, jueteng continues to proliferate with operators raking in billions of pesos every year, capitalizing on the hopes of millions of poor Filipinos to hit the jackpot and make thousands from a two-peso bet. Street-smart former president Joseph Estrada tried to push for jueteng’s legalization because he only knew too well it would be virtually impossible to fight it. In the end, the former President got entangled in an unfortunate situation and got convicted for it.

While the feisty Senator Miriam Santiago and retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz have yet to present solid evidence for their exposes, logic would dictate they are right in saying the numbers game will not proliferate without express cooperation from local government officials and the police. There’s just too much money at stake, too many poor people caught up in the racket and therefore too much corruption involved that it will probably take “four and a half billion years” — as Miriam quipped, before jueteng can ever be eradicated.

Everyone who has become dependent (and addicted) to the money from jueteng — collectors/bet takers, managers/cabos, bettors and the policeman whose take home pay is hardly enough to support his family — will certainly not turn against their patrons. More so higher-ups who stand to receive hundreds of millions per year just by turning a blind eye on the operations. 

What I don’t understand is — the small town lottery is a numbers game, and any way you look at it, STL is but a glorified version of jueteng. The only difference is that one has a legal face. In which case, why not legalize jueteng once and for all? Every year, we see a replay of investigations on jueteng but the bigger menace that continues to destroy millions of Filipino lives — the creeping drug problem that could very well turn us into a failed state — is hardly touched on. The illegal drug trade is the single biggest problem that could completely destroy this country in less than 20 years. It has become a P1-billion-a-day industry. Compared to drug money, it would appear jueteng money is a mere pittance. 

The International Narcotics Control Strategy Report by the US State Department identifies the Philippines as a major transshipment point for the narcotics trade valued at close to $10 billion annually. As one former US drug enforcement agent pointed out to me, the fight against illegal drugs is a “war without end.” The sad part, said this agent, is that some of the rich and powerful in this country are themselves users and are often the protectors of this illegal drug trade.

After 89 days in office, the administration of President Noynoy is going through a baptism of fire, so to speak, made more complicated by the fact that the international community is watching his every move. Having the botched hostage rescue investigated is the correct way to go, but because the ax is supposed to fall where it should, even P-Noy’s allies are getting angry at him. Mayor Fred Lim is certainly resentful at the committee’s recommendation to file criminal charges against him — eliciting a highly emotional response from the mayor. But as IIRC member Tessie Ang See said, no matter how many times one has done good in the past, one must be made accountable for a single mistake especially if it results in the loss of precious lives.

DOJ Secretary Leila de Lima is also not happy at the decision of P-Noy to have the committee’s findings reviewed — although De Lima, as usual, was prudent in her replies when asked if she thought the president’s decision was ill-advised. The IIRC report — whose contents are still to be fully released to the Filipino public — has caused a lot of rancor among the media and the personalities found culpable for the tragic ending to the hostage crisis.

But perhaps the most jarring note for many Filipinos is the decision to release the report first to the Chinese government — an obvious attempt to placate the Hong Kong people who from the start have been very critical of the way local authorities handled the crisis. The Philippine government has bent over backwards to appease Hong Kong — yet we see Hong Kong legislators unhappy and dissatisfied with everything the Aquino government has done so far, scathingly rejecting the report for being incomplete and inadequate. Unfortunately, this puts P-Noy in a bind. If he does not file criminal and administrative charges against some of his allies or loyal friends, then people will scream “whitewash.” If he does, then he stands to lose these very same friends and allies.

While the president has emphasized the hostage-taking incident will not define his administration, the crisis has become akin to a double-edged sword, with critics both at home and abroad seemingly impossible to placate whatever he may decide to do in the end. He will have to be ready to face many such challenges in the next six years, and whether he likes it or not, he will always have a situation where it will be “damned if you do, damned if you don’t.” More than being a bachelor, he will soon realize that it is indeed “lonely at the top” because he will have many moments where he and he alone will have to make the tough decisions for the greater good of the greater number of people.

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