It has been almost two years now since President Aquino took office and promised to everyone that he will lead our country toward good governance and along the righteous path.
Yet, until now the present administration has not done much in terms of eradicating the illegal numbers game jueteng, which is still very much prevalent in many provinces, including Pampanga, Nueva Ecija, Quezon, Isabela, Tarlac, Batangas and Camarines Sur. I clearly recall that when Mr. Aquino appointed Director General Nicanor Bartolome as chief of the Philippine National Police, the latter promised to do everything within his power to stop jueteng, but to this day this remains an empty promise.
Many jueteng lords even use the PCSO-sanctioned Small Town Lottery (STL) as a cover for their jueteng operations, and this is why police operatives find it very hard to prosecute them when they are caught.
If the administration is really serious in stopping jueteng, it should consider stopping STL operations so the PNP and the Department of the Interior and Local Government can step up its anti-jueteng campaign. Given that the 2013 elections are just a year away—and we all know that jueteng money will again be used to influence the outcome of the elections—I hope that the Aquino administration will put its foot down and make it a priority to stop jueteng operations all over the country, otherwise jueteng will continue to become one big black spot on the administration’s drive to fulfill its “Daang Matuwid” promise.
—HARVEY S. KEH,
director for Youth Leadership
and Social Entrepreneurship,
Ateneo School of Government,
harveykeh@gmail.com