Anti-gambling law is inutile – Archbishop Cruz
DAGUPAN CITY – The law purportedly aimed at eliminating jueteng is inutile since it is not being enforced.
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, chairman of Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Sugal, said Republic Act Number 9287, the law increasing the penalties for the illegal numbers game called jueteng, “proved futile and inutile” after it was signed.
He described the law which was made effective April 18, 2004, as gravely offensive to the common welfare.
He said the premise and rational for the law appeared comprehensive and all-encompassing listing fines and imprisonment for operators all the way down to the collectors and even penalizes the bettors.
“But there it stops. The law was dead the moment it was signed,” Cruz said.
Just in the case of quasi innumerable good laws, their implementation is practically non-existent, Cruz said.
“Incompetent or impotent-this is the rightful qualification of the present administration in implementing Republic Act 9287,” Cruz said.
He said that there are many indicators today that Malacañang wants it that way.
“It appears that it has long since made the deliberate option not to have the law implemented for many million reasons,” he said.
He added that the Senate hearing on jueteng has sworn testimonies to this effect and not one of these has been disproved to this date.
Cruz brought some witnesses to testify on the extent of jueteng operations in the country, including those who allegedly benefited from it.
Some of Cruz’ witnesses tagged some members of the First Family among jueteng payola recipients.
Because of the government’s refusal to enforce the law, he said all the known and named gambling lords of jueteng in the country continue to operate with impunity. EVA
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