Editorial
Rash, rush
BARELY has the heat on jueteng cooled down and Pangasinenses have yet to be fully convinced that the illegal numbers game has really been eliminated from the province, when along comes another menace.
And this time, it appears the betting game has found a way to be legal — through business permits from mayors’ offices — making it practically untouchable from police authorities.
The rash and rush of mayors, so far 23 of the 44 towns and 4 cities in Pangasinan have done so, to grant permits for the jai-alai betting stations raises eyebrows everywhere.
Is corruption rearing its ugly head in another body?
At a time when people are urged to conserve their financial resources in the face of a looming food crisis and soaring prices for fuel and other goods, how could our local government leaders shamefully promote gambling with apparently no regard for their constituents’ welfare?
Our provincial government must step in and take action to curb the proliferation of gambling in Pangasinan. And it has got to start at the core of these betting operations, which is not the people who are placing their bets, but the opportunists who are without guilt pocketing money sourced from an evil vice.
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Willie’s wild & woolly world
THE trouble with being No. 1 is, you always attract attention. The trouble with being not No. 1 is, you always try to attract attention.
The beauty in being Willie Revillame is, he is No. 1 in TV showbiz. His TV5 show, “Willing Willie,” defeats both ABS-CBN’s “TV Patrol” and GMA’s “24 Oras” in ratings from 6:30 p.m. onwards, Monday to Friday. When you are that popular, when you are rated that much, it spells money. Lots of money. That’s why Willie hands out cash in crisp bills to his contestants and non-contestant alike in wild abandon. Easy come, easy go.
The tragedy of Willie Revillame is, his show being No. 1, it draws fire from almost everywhere. His case is like a mango tree teeming with fruits: It attracts stone-throwers virtually from all directions. He’s become so big, almost larger than life, that almost everything he does becomes grist for small talk, shop talk, intrigues.
Everything has a price. If mishandled, the price could be sky-high.
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