Willie N Ng
THE way to fight jueteng, the illegal numbers game, is to replace it with the legal Small Town Lottery (STL), the jueteng clone, now ready to join the national gambling menu of casinos, slot machine parlors, lotto, sweepstakes, masiao, horse racing, cockfighting, bingo, and God knows what else.
For six months, experts at the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office brainstormed on the mechanics of the game and the rules for running it. Last Monday, the PCSO announced six localities to be the STL testing grounds.
Anti-gambling czar Edward Hagedorn would run the operation, assisted by Michaelangelo Zuce, the former presidential staffer who last year accused President Arroyo of committing election frauds.
The administration holds no grudges.
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The very next day, STL operations were halted and Hagedorn was replaced by the team of Palace Chief of Staff Mike Defensor and Secretary of the Interior Ronaldo Puno.
Details of the operation were unclear, said Defensor.
Operations in each locality were to be bidded out. But one never heard of calls for a bidding. The lucky winners of the alleged bidding have yet to be introduced to the public.
Nor have the rules been publicized. For instance, who is to confirm the gate receipts in each draw?
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A former casino official said jueteng would continue to flourish. STL would be lucky to take a 25 percent slice of the numbers game market.
Its main function is to serve as a smoke screen for jueteng lords.
A few church prelates led by Msgr. Oscar Cruz have spoken against this new gambling art form. The others may be groping for words.
Meanwhile, the oppositionists supporting the extra large size Zuce and his family hope that the removal of Hagedorn does not mean Zuce losing his government job. It is expensive to supply the Zuce family with the needed proteins and carbohydrates, every day.
Government is welcome to take over.
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