DEATH OF ISABELA MAYOR SHOWS RISKS OF INVOLVEMENT IN JUETENG

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Nene Q. Pimentel, Jr. (PDP-Laban) today said a police report that a turf war over jueteng may have been the motive behind the murder of Mayor Delfinito Albano of Ilagan, Isabela bolsters the argument why the government should wage a no-nonsense, and not a superficial, campaign against illegal gambling.

What happened to Mayor Albano of Ilagan, Isabela is one example why the scourge of jueteng should be eradicated from the land, Pimentel said. Jueteng is not only a source of corruption, it is a cause of bloodshed.

Pimentel said Mayor Albano may be the latest victim, but unfortunately, he will not be the last unless the government decisively ends the numbers game.

A few weeks ago, Governor Armand Sanchez of Bulacan was severely injured when his car caught fire and got burned from a bomb explosion.

Speculation also indicated that jueteng could have been the cause of what the press said was an assassination attempt against Sanchez, Pimentel said.

How many lives must be sacrificed before Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo and the authorities decide: Enough is enough and jueteng should be eradicated now?

Meanwhile, the minority leader said Mayor Edward Hagedorn, of Puerto Princesa City was only telling the truth when he blamed the resurgence of jueteng on the tolerance or negligence of the Philippine National Police.

Hagedorn, is the administrations anti-jueteng czar and chairman of the League of Cities of the Philippines.

But he said Hagedorn is only partially right in his statement since the local government officials are also responsible for the failure of stamp out jueteng.

Pimentel said jueteng can only proliferate if the PNP and the local officials concerned connive to allow the illegal numbers game to operate.

Without the consent of either the local officials of the PNP officers, jueteng cannot take off wherever they have now staged a comeback. It takes a two to tango. The local government and police officials together they can make good jueteng music to sweeten their control of the illegal numbers game, he said.