Barbers: No to legalized jueteng, just stiffer penalties

Legalizing jueteng won’t solve the problem, period.

Thus said Sen. Robert Barbers who insisted yesterday that only the passage of a new law that would impose stiffer penalties against persons involved in the illegal numbers game would stamp it out.

Barbers, chairman of the Senate committee on illegal drugs and public order, said he is sponsoring tomorrow Senate Bill 2547, the consolidated version of all proposed measures against jueteng and other illegal numbers games like masiao.

He said the Philippine National Police has been effective in conducting raids on gambling dens, but that it is apparently helpless in prosecuting gambling lords.

Presidential Decree 1602, which was issued many years ago to address illegal gambling, has proven practically ineffective in putting an end to, or at least containing, illegal gambling.

Under SB 2547, jueteng bettors face a jail term of two to six years and fine ranging from P100,000 to P400,000, while collectors and agents could be jailed for eight to 10 years and fined from P600,000 to P800,000.

For financiers and capitalists, the bill imposes a jail term of 14 to 16 years and fine of P3 million to P5 million, and for protectors or coddlers, 16 to 20 years’ imprisonment and P5-million to P10-million fine.