MANILA, SEPTEMBER 30, 2010 (STAR) By Cecille Suerte Felipe and Michael Punongbayan - Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis "Chavit" Singson charged yesterday Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago with graft and corruption before the Office of the Ombudsman for implicating him in jueteng without any evidence.
Speaking to The STAR, Bonifacio Alentajan, Singson's counsel, said Santiago violated Republic Act 3019, the Anti Graft and Corrupt Practices Act when she accused Singson of being involved in jueteng.
"These are serious accusations," he said.
Alentajan said causing undue injury to a person under RA 3019 carries a penalty of 15 years imprisonment and perpetual disqualification from public office.
"If she accused you of being involved in jueteng, she is accusing you of committing a crime and that accusation causes undue injury to all these people," he said.
Alentajan said when Santiago delivered her privilege speech at the Senate, she enjoyed parliamentary immunity and she could not be charged with libel.
"But she committed a crime because she caused undue injury to the people she implicated in the operation of jueteng," he said.
In her privilege speech, Santiago said Singson was the main jueteng operator in the Ilocos region.
Police: No jueteng in Pampanga
In San Fernando, police have continuously denied that jueteng exists in Pampanga province.
On the other hand, mayors insist that they only know about the operations of the small town lottery operated by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office.
However, retired archbishop Oscar Cruz told the Senate STL is being used as a front for jueteng.
Mabalacat Mayor Marino Morales branded as black propaganda allegations that Pampanga Gov. Lilia Pineda's husband Rodolfo Pineda is a jueteng lord.
"Many are happy with the way the governor runs things," he said.
"Instead of giving her problems by hurling these allegations at her, let us just give her our support."
Morales said from Sept. 28, 2006 to August 31, 2010, proceeds from STL operations netted Pampanga a total of P55,753,049.39; the districts P27,876,524.69; and the municipalities P111,506,098.77.
Over the same period, the Bureau of Internal Revenue received P46,399,741.23 from STL operations, and P83,629,574.08 for the PCSO, he added.
The Philippine National Police received P55,753,049.39, their five percent share, Morales said.
San Fernando Mayor Oscar Rodriguez, League of Cities of the Philippines president, said he did not know of jueteng operations in the capitol.
"Only STL," he said.
In introducing STL, the government did a favor for jueteng lords, according to San Fernando Auxiliary Bishop Pablo Virgilio David.
STL blocked in Baguio
In Baguio City, STL was blocked again by religious organizations.
Church leaders comprised of Bishop Rudy Juan of the United Methodist Church; Bedejim Abdulah, Muslim Organization of Baguio; retired Senior Pastor Simplicio Dang-awan, Father Andy Cosalan and Bishop Carlito Cenzon of the Roman Catholic church trooped to City Hall Monday afternoon when the City Council was about to discuss at least nine STL applications.
"Do not be defeatists," Bishop Cenzon told members of the City Council.
"If you give in, (it means) you have abandoned your responsibility."
Councilor Richard Cariño said some sectors interpreted their rejection of STL applications to give leeway to jueteng operations.
"It is a damn if you do, damn if you don't situation," he said.
"How I wish church leaders were also in our position. If we do not take their position, we are immoral."
Cariño is pushing for the holding of a public hearing to get the sentiments of the public.
"Let us not close our minds," he said. "Let us think of out-of-the box."
Some of the STL proponents are Montañosa Tribal Leisure and Gaming Corp., Halls Entertainment, Southern Cocoland Holdings and Gaming Corp., Batangas Enhanced Technology Systems Inc. and PWF Gaming and Lottery Corp.
The committee handling STL applications will schedule a public hearing two weeks from now.
Meanwhile, Councilor Betty Lourdes Tabanda called on the STL proponents to submit to the City Council copies of their report to the PCSO on illegal gambling operations in Baguio and a feasibility study on daily sales based on field reports. – With Ding Cervantes, Artemio Dumlao
Miriam laughs off Chavit's charges against her By Marvin Sy (The Philippine Star) Updated September 30, 2010 12:00 AM Comments (0) View comments
MANILA, Philippines - Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago laughed off the charges filed against her by Ilocos Sur Gov. Luis Singson and pointed out the Office of the Ombudsman has no jurisdiction over her.
Santiago said Singson has been able to intimidate people because of his alleged tendency to violence but not someone like her who eats bullets for breakfast.
"I wish I could challenge him to a duel, but that is a crime under the Penal Code. So instead, I challenge him to a debate on any of the major TV channels," she said.
Santiago said a previous case was filed against her before the Office of the Ombudsman but was dismissed for lack of jurisdiction over members of Congress.
She cited the case filed by Sultan Abdulhamid Alimuddin accusing her of culpable violation of the Constitution and violations to the Code of Conduct and Ethical Standards for Public Officials and Employees and the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act.
She said the Ombudsman dismissed the case last July 8 because of the law that states that members of Congress and the judiciary are not covered by disciplinary authority of the Office of the Ombudsman.
Santiago described the charges filed by Singson as virtual carbon copies of the same charges filed against her when she ran for the Senate last May.
Those same charges have already been dismissed separately by the Ombudsman, by the Supreme Court two times, and by the Comelec (Commission on Elections), she said.
Santiago said lawyer Bonifacio Alentajan handled the cases.
"(He was) the same lawyer who has managed to lose all his four cases against me. He is reportedly facing three disbarment charges," Santiago said.
Santiago said Singson violated the law for filing the same case against her before the Ombudsman.
She said the Ombudsman could dismiss outright the case filed by Singson.
Singson accused Santiago of violating the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act in implicating him in her jueteng expose last week.
The Ilocos Sur governor said Santiago violated the law for accusing him of a crime without presenting any evidence.
Alentajan, Singsons lawyer, argued Santiago committed a crime by causing undue injury to the people she had implicated in her privilege speech last week.
Santiago, however, warned she might come out with another exposé, this time against Singson, to be entitled Singson the Sabit.
He has a list of sabit (misdeeds), meaning criminal liabilities. Maybe I'll expose it on the Senate floor, after I recover from my present illness, she said.
Santiago also called on the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to conduct lifestyle checks on all alleged jueteng operators, including Singson and other local officials she had implicated.
The senator also asked Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Director General Raul Bacalzo to check out the provincial directors of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) she had mentioned in her privilege speech.
No single senator criticized or contradicted my speech. The text has been mailed throughout the country. The Singson charges are merely an effort to scandalize, intimidate, and muzzle me, Santiago said.
All my enemies out there, feel free to shoot me preferably in the back. But do it after the gun ban. Death is only a portal and maybe (retired) archbishop Oscar Cruz will pray for my immortal soul, she added, referring to the founder of the National Crusade Against Jueteng.
Dig deeper
Sen. Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr., on the other hand, urged the Senate to push through with its inquiry into alleged illegal gambling payoffs.
Marcos also urged his colleagues to dig deeper into allegations of Sen. Miriam Defensor-Santiago implicating several officials in the payoff scandal to get a better picture of how jueteng has corrupted government and society.
Marcos suggested that some personalities close to President Aquino wanted to stop the Senate from conducting a congressional inquiry to avoid dragging the Chief Executive into the issue.
Marcos noted the statements of colleague Sen. Teofisto Guingona III who had declared that he is not keen on forcing some of the personalities implicated in the jueteng issue to appear before the Senate Blue Ribbon committee.
Guingona said it would be useless since they would only deny the allegations.
"So maybe he's (Guingona) trying to protect the President. I don't know if it can be done this way and considering the developments and much has been said over the issue, I don't know if this is the proper thing to do," Marcos said.
The allegations of Santiago came in the wake of revelations made by retired archbishop Oscar Cruz claiming a resurgence of jueteng under the Aquino administration.
Cruz had earlier named Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico Puno and recently retired Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Jesus Verzosa as among the officials on the take. Both had denied the allegations.
Santiago went further by naming other officials as alleged jueteng recipients and revealed the so-called immediate intermediaries of the illegal numbers game.
Marcos stressed the need for the Senate to determine the real situation and "get it out into the open."
"There are so many issues surrounding jueteng, among them is the proposal to legalize it... in what form, would it be like bingo two ball or STL (small town lottery)... for me these issues should be discussed," he said.
Marcos said he is going to discuss the issue with Guingona, who has scheduled another hearing for tomorrow.
Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile also agreed on the need for discussion, particularly on proposals to legalize jueteng.
Enrile said he is in favor of legalizing jueteng to arrest the problem.
"I have already taken my position. I am in favor of legalizing it because we have been dealing with this problem ever since, even during the time of the governors-general (during the Spanish colonial era). We have not succeeded in stamping it out," Enrile said.
He said it is time for the government to review its position on the illegal numbers game.
"Many people might disagree with me but that is my position. Let us legalize it, then you can regulate so that there will be no cheating. The bettors will have a fair deal, and second, you can raise money for the government, and tax the people who are involved in this illegal numbers game. We can recycle the money back to the poor people of this country," he said.
Sen. Jinggoy Estrada, for his part, took the initiative and filed a proposal to legalize jueteng.
Estrada filed Senate Bill 2548 proposing to give the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) sole control and supervision of jueteng operations.
An STL franchise holder in Batangas, on the other hand, wanted to professionalize mobile STL operations to defeat jueteng.
Benedict Bulatao, of the Batangas Enchanted Technology Systems (BETS), said betting through cellular phone would save the public from being cheated like in jueteng operations.
Authorities, on the other hand, claimed they have launched an all-out war against jueteng, particularly in the Ilocos region.
Ilocos Sur police director Chief Superintendent Orlando Mabutas claimed they have already arrested 268 people from 122 raids conducted against suspected jueteng operations in the province. – With Christina Mendez, Eva Visperas, Jun Elias
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