Punchline
Plotting the return of jueteng
By Ermin Garcia Jr.
BOARD Member Alfie Bince recently suggested to his colleagues that Small Town Lottery (STL) be allowed to operate in the province to replace jueteng and ostensibly to provide livelihood for the hundreds of kubradores who are without jobs today as a consequence of Guv Spines’ order to stop jueteng at all costs.
Mr. Bince’s solution though well-intended in form falls gravely short of any reasonable justification. In the first place, why even consider replacing jueteng? By allowing STL to operate, the government will only add its voice to the promotion of the culture of gambling instead of helping instill the values of hard work, diligence and frugality among our kabaleyans. Besides, aren’t there enough legal gambling activities in the province that our people can entertain themselves with? Doesn’t lotto have enough variations to lure people to bet their last money?
By introducing STL in the province, the Espino government will conveniently provide the front for jueteng operations, a well-known modus operandi of jueteng operators. With STL, jueteng will be back with a vengeance even before Mr. Bince can say “Hello”!
Or is it possible that this is what Mr. Bince actually has in mind? Does he want jueteng back on track? To continue the payola culture? To continue the corruption of work ethic and values in government? I pray not.
Mr. Bince should allow Guv Spines to earn his legacy and not allow it to be tainted by the resurgence of jueteng via STL in Pangasinan.
(Back to Guv Spines’s order contra jueteng, the jueteng ‘guerillas’ surfaced in Calasiao last week. Without the application of the one-strike policy, guerillas will have no fear, police chiefs will be complacent and Guv Spines will be continuously embarrassed).
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MEDIA’S RATING GAME. There was a media frenzy out there, getting everyone who mattered kuno, particularly the critical sectors, to rate the first 100 days of the President down to the governors and mayors.
From where I sit, I see the media-driven 100-day rating game as unfair to the newly elected and reelected officials. Unfair because the ‘raters’ are oblivious to the fact that the ‘ratees’ were not elected to perform miracles in 100 days! And certainly, none of the elected executives vowed to accomplish their campaign promises in 100 days. (The governor or mayor who actually promised to realize his vision in 100 days should not have been believed and elected. And those who voted for them should be barred from elections permanently. Gosh, not even Jesus Christ saved us all from eternal damnation in 100 days!).
The 100-day rating game has become a political tool for those who opposed the elected officials and the militants to give the newly elected officials their comeuppance for having won, and for the supporters of the newly elected officials to demonstrate undying loyalty. Either way, governance is not helped any.
The 100-day can only be significant to the extent of appreciating what was done and what else could have been in the context of what were realistically and legally doable over the period without interference by or need for legislative debate.
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President Aquino set the tone when he ordered the ban of the use of ‘wang-wang’ by the rich and powerful. That was ‘doable’ and achieved results immediately. He stopped one visible abuse of the rich and powerful.
He had other ‘doables’ that could have made a difference in our daily lives but he opted not to for reasons only known to him. For instance, he could have issued an executive order directing all government offices to allow the public full access to information of public records with the exclusion of data and information that are deemed secret for national security purposes. The executive order would have signaled the dawning of an era that will not tolerate corruption. Imagine the reaction of the corrupt who remain in government if that order had been given.
P_Noy could have ordered the DILG and the PNP: “Sugpuin ang jueteng at masiao sa bayan…tama na ang kalokohang iyan.” But he hasn’t. That would have instantly stopped jueteng and other illegal gambling in the country, including ‘guerilla operations’. Sadly, Archbishop Oscar Cruz’s advocacy remains anchored on the question –Should it be legalized or not? – when the question should be – Does the government want it stopped or not? (In contrast, Guv Spines had ordered jueteng to be stopped, and the juetengeros vanished in thin air).
Then, imagine too if P_Noy had ordered sanctions against local government officials who continue to operate open dumpsites in violation of R.A. 9003. That order would have resulted in closure of many of these dumpsites in the next 100 days!
If P_Noy had ordered all bonuses authorized by government corporations be cleared with him prior to releases, the crocs in those companies would begin to suffer slow deaths. Wouldn’t that be nice to see them choke?
If P_Noy had ordered that all prison wardens shall be held responsible for all actions of escapees, there would be fewer “escape” artists who double as hit-men for target ‘salvage’ victims. Then, there would be fewer violence in the streets.
These are just a few ‘doables’ that could have done much to repair the Filipinos’ damaged culture, particularly that which says – the law exempts the rich and powerful and can only be applied to the poor and have-nots.
Let’s continue to watch our chief executives in the next 100 days.
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UNHOLY ALLIANCE IN THE CITY? Why is the 888 Dagupan Properties Corporation so daring as to continue its reclamation project in the Calmay River in Dagupan City like it has the mayor in its pocket and despite the ruling of the DENR that its activity is illegal?
The corporation was effectively stopped during the administration of Mayor Al Fernandez. Today, the Mangaldan-based corporation, reportedly a business friend of Mayor Benjie Lim, is thumbing its nose at Dagupeños dumping landfill materials on site like nobody’s business.
Mayor Benjie can prove the suspicions wrong about him by filing a case vs. the company ora mismo. Short of this, he risks the credibility of his campaign in cleaning the river. How can he have moral ascendancy dismantling fish pens if he allows a crony to reclaim a part of the river illegally?
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SO LONG EDENER. One of the early sustaining members of the PUNCH Online’s Kabaleyan Club, Edener Benitez Fabella, passed away early this month. He died in his home in Renton, Washington USA. A regular contributor to our online PUNCH Forum, Edener, a native of Laguna, demonstrated his love for his adopted province through his commentaries. He will be missed by all who knew and read him.
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