Gambling is a pandemic disease of societies that eats up the good core values of people. It is toxic to healthy character, baleful to the Filipino family and its “draw out” system is a mighty corruptor of those in the positions of power.
Legal or illegal, gambling’s impact and operations are far-reaching as it thrives, breeding grounds for all sorts of vices and criminalities, immoralities and passiveness everywhere.
From the politicians and police force, down to the lowest barangay level up to the high and highest echelons of governance of every administration, whether its jueteng or STL, lotto, sakla, mahjong, casinos, horse-racing, cockfighting or any other forms of betting in the guise of “games” and “amusement,” the plague of gambling is the “passed up” ugly culprit and one major cause why we are a poor and corrupt nation to this day.
I was into gambling myself back then as a student until Christ came into my life. And I knew how devastating it was to my studies and to my relationship with my family being into a vicious habit. Surrounded then by gamblers from different walks of life, I am very much aware when I say “gambling destroys lives.” No different from cocaine, although I’ve not been into drugs, gambling destroys families, communities and nations as well.
There is no such thing as moderation when it comes to gambling. If you’re hooked into it, you’re hooked. I have written enough in the past about the evils of gambling and how that it must be neutralized or eradicated. Unfortunately, our government officials always seem to turn a deaf ear every time there is a clamor for it. But at least we can see a little light that the present dispensation is doing a little something about it with little sincerity.
Let me quote from my long discourse on the subject which was published in the major newspapers in 1993:
“I approached one person just last week inquiring him of his opinion about the current issue of gambling and the idea of banning all forms of such vice. He looked at me with motion in his face as if to project his hopelessness and desperation and said rather bluntly, “Sana nga matanggal na lahat yang mga sugal, para wala na akong bisyo.”
“Talk to gamblers and they’ll be honest with you. They want to be delivered from the habit but they cannot since it is never within just their own power to do it. It would take them more than personal determination and discipline because gambling is not simply a matter of pleasure-indulging activity as people ordinarily perceive it to be. Gambling is a spirit. It’s a binding spirit that takes hold of its captive tightly to its hellish grip until the person, in the entirety of his being, is corrupted and his life eventually ruined and that of his loved ones, family and soul.”
Kudos to Catholic Archbishop Oscar Cruz for his resolve and dedication to fight jueteng, casinos and gambling in general without let up.
--Reni Valenzuela