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Puno, 11 others tagged in jueteng

September 22, 2010 | 12:00am

MANILA, Philippines – Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno and retired police chief Jesus Verzosa have been tagged as among the incumbent and former government officials allegedly on the take from jueteng operators.

Retired archbishop Oscar Cruz named the two and eight others – including Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda – as being the biggest beneficiaries of jueteng operations in the country during a joint hearing by the Senate committees on Blue Ribbon, local government and on rules yesterday. Puno and Verzosa were tagged as “ultimate recipients” in the list.

In the same hearing, Cruz also alleged that presidential cousin, businessman Tonyboy Cojuangco, had tried to convince him to go slow on his exposé on Puno.

Blue Ribbon chairman Teofisto Guingona III read the names on Cruz’s list.

Puno, who was present during the hearing, denied Cruz’s accusations. Verzosa also issued a denial through his lawyer.

Cruz did not directly name Cojuangco and described him only as the boyfriend of actress Gretchen Baretto, upon questioning by Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada.

“Ang una pong pumunta sa akin (The first one who approached me) to ‘take it easy’ in substance about the undersecretary is the boyfriend of Baretto. Gretchen,” Cruz told the Senate hearing.

“Hindi ako nangako na susundin ko siya (I did not promise him anything),” Cruz added.

Puno confirmed that he and Cojuangco were friends but denied having sought the businessman’s help regarding Cruz’s exposé.

“I’m thinking, in my impression, until now it’s just an impression, parang nasasaktan yata yung admin (the administration may have been hurt), but I am not inclined to say that he (Cojuangco) came because of Puno, he came in favor of the administration,” Cruz told reporters after the meeting. The meeting lasted about 10 minutes, starting and ending with handshakes.

Cruz noted that Cojuangco’s visit came after he and some Aquino officials traded barbs on the air over the jueteng issue.

Also in Cruz’s list are Paul Dy of Isabela; retired general Eugene Martin of Baguio City; Mayor Mauricio Domogan of Baguio City; Danny Soriano of Cagayan; a certain retired ‘General Padilla’ operating in Pasay, Parañaque, Muntinlupa, and San Pedro; Gov. Amado Espino of Pangasinan, and Boy Jalandoni of Bacolod.

Identified as a jueteng “collector on the ground” was a certain Eddie Fontanilla, while one retired general Rey Cachuela was listed as “intermediate recipient.”

Identified as “good resource persons” in the list were Atong Ang for jueteng and jai alai and Manuel Morato for STL.

Ang was a consultant for the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) during the Estrada administration.

Evasive

While denying links to jueteng, Puno admitted being visited at least thrice by some personalities who urged him to establish a communication between his office and the alleged jueteng operators.

Puno said he reported the matter to President Aquino, who was reportedly against jueteng.

But when pressed by senators to name names, Puno said he could not recall them anymore.

“But these are friends. If they were strangers who went up to you in a street corner to ask for favor maybe you may forget but friends, unless you used the word friends very loosely,” Legarda said in disbelief.

Verzosa defended

Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Raul Bacalzo, for his part, took up the cudgels for Verzosa and said there should be a “multi-dimensional” approach to fighting jueteng.

“Law enforcement is just one dimension. In law enforcement, we will do our job. We will enforce the law,” he said.

Bacalzo, however, drew flak from Sen. Francis Escudero for failing to bring to the hearing a copy of an alleged list of jueteng operators prepared by PNP’s directorate for intelligence.

“We do not shy away from the impression. We are fully cooperating in this investigation… if only to show that we are one in this endeavor to eradicate (jueteng), to minimize if not stop corruption in the bureaucracy,” Bacalzo said, referring to perception that the police were protecting jueteng operators.

Verzosa’s lawyer Benjamin de los Santos said the PNP leadership was being dragged into the issue because of an alleged “turf war” between jueteng and STL operators. He said Verzosa was unable to attend the Senate hearing because of a prior commitment in Singapore.

Political will

At the start of the hearing, Cruz refused to make his list public and requested for an executive session. Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile and Senators Gregorio Honasan and Escudero eventually convinced him to divulge the names in his list.

“It’s about time we take the bull by the horns and name them publicly. This has been a perennial problem. We talk of political will – so be it. Let’s have the political will to name the people involved whether high officials of government, senators, congressmen, governors, mayors, judges, prosecutors, policemen, generals and what not, or media men. Let’s name them,” Enrile said.

On questioning by Sen. Ferdinand Marcos Jr., Puno revealed that based on his own studies, jueteng generates at least P30 billion annually as against P10 billion earned from STL.

This prompted Enrile to call on the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to determine whether personalities who benefit from jueteng can be held liable for tax evasion charges.

He said the BIR and the Anti-Money Laundering Council should look into the money trail of jueteng operators.

“There is a responsibility on the part of the government for this. It has instruments to enforce the law and curb this menace if indeed we want to do it, the police to enforce the law, the BIR to charge these people with tax evasion and send them to jail like Al Capone, and the money laundering of the Central Bank to determine what banks are the recipients and holders of the deposits of these people,” Enrile said.

“We have to recast all these laws if we have to in order to really address this problem holistically, to use the term of the chairman of Blue Ribbon, and so forth and so on,” he said.

Al Capone was an Italian-American gang leader who was imprisoned for tax evasion after successfully escaping conviction for other crimes including murder.

“And I can’t believe that if we are talking about billions of pesos here annually that these are going to be piled up in the warehouse or underground vaults. They must be entering the banking system and why, if the money from this activity enters the banking system, that the money laundering council has not noticed this money entering the banking system,” Enrile said.

Cruz said jueteng operators might be depositing their loot abroad during their frequent foreign trips made in the guise of watching boxing in Las Vegas. He did not elaborate.

Cruz lamented that there are other witnesses who can testify against jueteng operators but they fear for their safety.

Waiting for instructions

Malacañang said Cruz’s tagging of Puno was “something new to us” but stressed they would wait for “instructions” from President Aquino, who is in the US.

“We will await instructions from the President with this regard, with this new development. We’re also monitoring the Senate investigation,” presidential spokesman Edwin Lacierda said.

What he knew at this point, according to the Cabinet member, was that Puno – a longtime friend and shooting buddy of the President – still enjoyed the trust and confidence of Mr. Aquino.

“To the best of my knowledge, he (Puno) still has the trust and confidence of the President. This development, this revelation made by Archbishop Cruz, the President I’m sure he’s not aware of it right now,” he added.

Lacierda said Mr. Aquino is busy with his US trip and with his review of the report submitted by the incident investigation and review committee on the hostage incident.

“It’s only that there are more pressing concerns right now. I’m very certain that he will be able to discuss this after he arrives. Because he’s out of the country and he has to talk to Usec Puno on a personal basis, I think it will be a discussion on his alleged role,” he said.

As regards Cruz’s revelation that Cojuangco tried to convince him to go easy on the DILG official, Lacierda maintained that the President could not necessarily restrain his relatives.

“Well, you know what, he has no control over what the actions and conduct of his relatives are and I think that should not be imputed on the President himself,” he told newsmen, in reference to Cojuangco, a cousin of Mr. Aquino who contributed P100 million to his campaign.

“I know for a fact that he does not talk to his relatives regarding that. He has made it a point to keep his blood relatives out of government as much as possible,” Lacierda explained.

PNP’s promise

Amid suspicion that some police officers were jueteng protectors, the PNP leadership said it would cooperate in the ongoing Senate probe on the illegal numbers game.

“The PNP will implement appropriate validation measures and conduct investigations with regard to the personalities that were implicated in the reports submitted by Archbishop Cruz. We will validate these claims and ensure that necessary sanctions will be given,” PNP spokesman Senior Superintendent Agrimero Cruz Jr. said.

He said the PNP is willing to work with the prelate in his crusade against jueteng. The PNP also stressed that Bong Pineda, husband of Gov. Pineda, is still on its watchlist.

Meanwhile, former police Intelligence chief Eugene Martin said he was surprised to hear that he was being linked to jueteng operations. He noted that he had never been linked to any irregularity while he was in the active service.

Meanwhile, Isabela Rep. Giorgidi Aggabao urged Puno to quit immediately after being accused of receiving jueteng payola.

“He has become a liability to President Aquino. He should not make the situation more difficult for the President by waiting for his boss to fire him. He should hand in an irrevocable resignation,” he said.

Aggabao was reacting to Puno’s statement that he was willing to go if he has become a “burden” to the President.

‘Jueteng Lords, Collectors And Recipients’

1. Gov. Baby Pineda in Pampanga

2. Paul Dy in Isabela

3. Retired Gen. Eugene Martin

4. Mayor Mauricio Domogan of Baguio

5. Danny Soriano in Cagayan

6. Retired Gen. Padilla in Pasay, Parañaque, Muntinlupa and San Pedro

7. Gov. Amado Espino in Pangasinan

8. Boy Jalandoni in Bacolod

9. Eddie Fontanilla (collector on ground)

10. Ret. Gen. Rey Cachuela (intermediate recipient)