‘Jueteng’ as solution

Despite the country’s 7.5-percent economic growth, joblessness and poverty incidence remain high.

Jueteng is the key to eradicating joblessness and poverty in our country. When I talk of jueteng I do not mean only the jueteng in Luzon. Jueteng has variants: In the Visayas it is masiao and in Mindanao, “last two.” Jueteng is everywhere from Aparri to Jolo.

How on earth could a form of gambling like jueteng eradicate poverty?

First, let us quantify the amount of money generated by jueteng nationwide. In 2005, or nine years ago, the Philippine Center for Investigative Journalism interviewed a known jueteng lord in a medium-sized town in Pangasinan and gathered that he grossed from P160,000 to P200,000 daily or P58.4 million to P73 million yearly. Assume those numbers have not changed (which of course is impossible given that there are more draws today than in 2005). For instance, the suertres lotto, on which the “last two” in Mindanao is based, used to be drawn only once a day; now it is drawn three times a day. Based on official figures, there are 144 cities and 1,490 municipalities in our country. Assume further, that only 90 percent of those cities and municipalities have jueteng, earning P200,000/day/city and P160,000/day/municipality: Jueteng should be generating a staggering amount of P88 billion yearly, in cold cash.

How would you make use of these billions to help the poor rise out of poverty? Remember that it is mostly the poor and the ordinary Filipino who indulge in jueteng and, therefore, those P88 billion yearly comes from their pockets. So why not transform jueteng into a cooperative undertaking so that it is no longer the jueteng lords but the people themselves, through their chosen officials, who will manage the operation of jueteng?

The winning bets will be paid from the funds of the cooperative. If one loses, he/she will not lose his/her money. The money is intact and remains with the cooperative as his/her savings or deposits. The funds will be deposited in banks, or in SSS funds, Pag-IBIG funds, or risk-free government securities earning interest. In the first year of the cooperative’s operation, the members can put up bakeshops, barber/beauty saloons, gasoline stations, grocery stores, etc., giving employment to members.

Later on, the cooperative can venture into farming, rice production, piggery, goat- and cattle-raising, call centers, production of herbal medicines, or into world-class furniture for exports, etc., generating more income and employment for members.

In fact, all the jueteng cooperatives can band together and with billions in cash at their disposal can put up a bank with branches nationwide (competing with established banks), hospitals, schools, supermarkets, TV and radio networks, etc., giving their members again more income and job opportunities. Also, cooperatives in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao, can trade with one another for goods not available or available in their areas.

Thus, jueteng shall cease to be a wasteful gambling activity and be transformed into a productive tool for poverty alleviation.

—ERNIE ADAYA,

[email protected]