President Rodrigo Duterte and Philippine National Police Chief Ronald dela Rosa tell us that the illegal numbers game of jueteng is next in their agenda. Sadly enough, these two officials have not lifted a finger against gambling lords, who are often also drug lords.
The President is wasting so much time battling local and international criticism of his alleged human rights violations as he wages a war against illegal drugs.
Meanwhile, the primary concerns of poverty and joblessness still await the administration’s action.
Santa Banana, don’t the President and the rest of his administration realize why the illegal drugs menace is so pervasive, to the extent that it is present in 95 percent in all barangays?
The reason is extreme poverty.
This is why I think Mr. Duterte should dovetail the war on drugs with anti-poverty efforts.
People go into the drug trade because of extreme poverty and unemployment. They need to have three square meals a day. On the streets of Metro Manila, young boys and girls sniff solvents to lessen their pangs of hunger.
My gulay, why do you think people in the province resort to illegal numbers games? They hope that their P1 or P5 will make them have enough to put food on the table.
Drugs and gambling are symbiotic. Drug lords and gambling lords are symbiotic. Even some local officials who control the police and the military are involved. Often, people resort to drugs and gambling because of poverty.
In many towns in Luzon, the illegal numbers game of jueteng is even played over radio twice to three times a day. To the “provincianos,” is a form of entertainment to ease their boredom.
In some towns, almost everybody—even farmers and fishermen—gets employed in jueteng. If the government were to rid these towns of jueteng, the people would protest.
Yes, the Small Town Lottery of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office has dislodged illegal games in some areas of Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao. But what the PCSO is not telling us is that these STLs are now controlled by the gambling lord with the connivance of PCSO officials.
When Duterte said that even the PCSO is corruption-ridden, he must have been told that illegal gambling persists because of corruption money that go to the police, the LGUs, and even the military, all the way up to Camp Crame and Camp Aguinaldo. My gulay, even some parish priests partake of the income.
I agree with former President Fidel V. Ramos when he said in his assessment of the first 100 days of President Duterte that the administration is spending unnecessary time in issues when it needs to attend to extreme poverty and joblessness.
As long as there is poverty, there will always be demand for illegal drugs.
As for criminality, it will also always be there. Even developed countries like US have a high crime rate. Corruption? It will remain in government because our system of government and political patronage make it so.
Despite Duterte, we cannot expect to live in Utopia.
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Is former secretary of justice, now Senator Leila de Lima really guilty as charged?
If you count all the whistleblowers, mostly among the convicted drug lords at the New Bilibid Prison, and many others formerly associated with De Lima, there is no doubt that she is guilty.
We must remember that all congressional investigations are “in aid of legislation,” not in “aid of prosecution.” Congress can only recommend what to do with De Lima.
Santa Banana, even Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre admits that he is not yet ready to file a case against De Lima since he would need documentary evidence to pin her down.
If you follow the House investigation, Aguirre does not have in his possession evidence to prove that De Lima received all that drug money.
This is why Aguirre doesn’t yet have an airtight case against the former justice secretary.
But, whether or not De Lima is guilty as charged, in the public eye, she is already guilty as hell. I would not wish on my worst enemy the things that De Lima is going through.
Still, the numerous witnesses lined up against her cannot all be liars, can they?
I also said that I wanted to sympathize with her predicament but could not. De Lima was BS Aquino’s attack dog against his political enemies.
With the awesome powers of the President out to pin her down, the only thing she can hope for is a miracle.
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Environment and Natural Resources Secretary Gina Lopez, a confirmed anti-mining advocate, must now very pleased with the suspension of some 22 mining firms that allegedly violated environment and mining law. She even engaged a known anti-mining group in her audit.
I don’t know if President Duterte is similarly pleased because the efforts of Lopez to kill the mining industry at the soonest possible time is bearing fruit.
In fact, New Zealand and Australia businessmen are worried sick that with Lopez and her anti-mining friends leading the pack against mining. Their investments in the country will also go “kaput.”
Santa Banana, the President released a raging bull in a china shop in the person of Lopez. Will he just stand by and allow all these to happen?
