Bishop says jueteng back as STL

Instead of losing its bettors to the government-run small-town lottery (STL), jueteng remains very much alive by piggybacking on bets intended for its “legal" counterpart. Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop Oscar Cruz on Wednesday said jueteng bookies merely adopted their style to STL by taking jueteng bets in the guise of taking STL bets. “The moneys do not really go to STL coffers but to private pockets after deduction of payments for winning numbers. The gains are thus not apportioned according to STL norms. They instead find their way to the big pockets of those running the bookies. STL bookies are operated just like the illegal horse raising bookies. It is the jueteng lords who ultimately run STL bookies," he said. Yet, he said the ones who ultimately benefit from this are the jueteng lords, who do not provide for collectors and small workers once they stop their operations when things get hot. Because of this situation, he said Malacañang’s repeated orders to the police to eradicate jueteng are turning out to be one big joke. “Who says that the administration is really against illegal gambling? Who claims that jueteng is already out of the picture in this gambling republic?" he added. Earlier, Cruz urged jueteng workers blaming him for their jobless state should direct their complaints to the jueteng lords whom he said “used and abused" them. The prelate said it was the jueteng lords and operators who used and abused them, to the point that they got richer while the workers grew more dependent on the game. The prelate also chided the jueteng lords for having the temerity to cry for justice, to ask for restitution, and to demand for recompense, now that jueteng has been stopped. “It is the jueteng lords and operators who have become filthy rich precisely by making use of their services for many years, everyday, rain or shine. They were poor when they began their jueteng venture; they remain poor all throughout their jueteng years. And poor they still are when they were abandoned by their jueteng lords and operators," he said. On the other hand, Cruz said STL is “anything but small" as it is ultimately destined to become a big syndicated gambling form, operated anywhere and everywhere and definitely not only in small towns. “It exploits the same poor people as it ultimately enriches the same jueteng protectors and operators with their chosen beneficiaries from the local to the national levels. It is jueteng with but another fancy name," he said.-GMANEWS.TV