Tuesday, April 29, 2008 Capitol initiates move vs jueteng, other illegal gambling
CITY OF SAN FERNANDO -- A manifesto of support to the government’s anti-gambling drive was signed by participants in last week’s meeting on the eradication of illegal gambling in Pampanga.
Representatives from different stakeholders answered the call of Governor Eddie Panlilio to a meeting last April 23, setting the course for the eventual eradication of jueteng and all other forms of illegal gambling in the province through innovative and positive alternatives, including the offering of livelihood opportunities.
The meeting was convened in cooperation with the newly created Pampanga Anti-Gambling Council (PAGC) headed by Reverend Fr. Marius Roque, and facilitated by Provincial Legal Officer Maria Elissa Velez.
Participants included representatives from the ABS-CBN Bayan Foundation, Land Bank, Talete Panyulung Kapampangan, Incorporated (TPKI), Sacop, The University of the Assumption, St. Scholastica’s Academy, Assumpta Technical High School, Holy Rosary Academy, PAGC and other non-government organizations.
San Fernando Auxiliary Bishop Pablo David maintained that it is the responsibility of the Philippine National Police (PNP) to eradicate jueteng, primarily because it is illegal, and he called on the Provincial Police Office officials to resign if they are not up to the job in removing it.
“I am disappointed that it has been 10 months already, and yet no decisive action has been taken against jueteng,” the bishop protested.
Velez echoed David’s sentiments. “We are in a culture of silence,” she stated.
Panlilio stressed that before any police action could be taken, the small people who are employed in the illegal numbers game, particularly the cobradores and kabos, should be given better livelihood alternatives in order to wean them away from their present occupation.
Livelihood trainings, micro-financing assistance, scholarship grants for their children and a province-wide information dissemination campaign on the ills and evils of jueteng were some of the alternative solutions proposed by the governor.
He further stated that “if one practice takes a lot of time to develop into a particular culture, it will also take some time for it to be replaced”.
He stressed that “I cannot do this alone, I need your help”.
Meanwhile, former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Ricardo de Leon presented a paper that he thinks may serve as a template in the anti-jueteng campaign. Project Barangay-Yaman (Bar-ya) seeks to establish a gambling-free community and is likewise aimed at arousing, organizing and mobilizing Filipinos towards providing alternatives to illegal gambling.
The project is a cooperative project with the participation of the PNP and local government units, with the collaboration of NGOs and other partner agencies.
De Leon pointed out the need for political will. “Let the power come from the people”, he quoted.
A round table discussion was initiated in order to concretize and formalize the commitments of the participants and the sectors they represented. Among the immediate course of action they agreed to undertake is to utilize the facilities and resources of the schools, churches and parishes to start the information campaign.
The Provincial Legal Office will initiate an inquiry into the operations of small-town lottery (STL) while the micro-financing institutions will formulate programs for the people who will be affected when the anti-jueteng and anti-illegal gambling campaigns go underway.
Many of the participants noted the absence of any representatives from the PNP and other government agencies involved in anti-crime and anti-vice campaigns. They requested the governor to invite them to the next meeting, in the belief that if all sectors would help one another in achieving a jueteng-free province, success is just at hand.
The group also resolved to invite all municipal mayors and related organizations to attend and participate in a summit in a multi-dimensional approach that will involve the provision of dignified livelihood for the cobradors and cabos, simultaneous with the evidence-gathering, arrest and prosecution of operators and other persons involved in its operation.
They promised to help in the lobby for an anti-gambling and pro-poor provincial police director.
The group also called on the church to assist in strengthening the moral formation of the faithful by developing a work ethic that centers on human dignity. (IFO/RCG)
