By MARLEN V. RONQUILLO
The Manila Times
The Manila Times
Why would people kill over a jueteng turf? Simple. The take is so huge that every and all action to gain control over a lucrative jueteng turf is on the table: murder, intimidation, bribery and gentle persuasion – with the last being the least used.
Of all the rackets in the country, only drug dealing is probably more lucrative than jueteng. But then drug use is not ingrained in the culture of the Filipino while gambling, jueteng specifically, is. This makes jueteng lords ply their trade with impunity but with no kargo de konsensya at all. The jueteng kobrador (bookie) is so mainstream that he or she is considered a part of the community.
At the break of dawn in a jueteng province, there are two types of people that are very early on the streets. The manangs bound for the church and the jueteng kobradors.
How lucrative is jueteng operations?
A retired jueteng operator in my province – let us take note that he has been out of the jueteng racket for close to a decade – recently sold a hotel for more than P200 million. He has a tertiary level hospital which interested parties have offered to buy for P800 million (the former jueteng operator wants P1 billion for the hospital) and he has buildings and other choice real estate properties in the province.
To call the retired jueteng operator a multi-millionaire would be a vast understatement of his huge wealth. He is a billionaire many times over.
We also have to take note of this. During the peak of his jueteng operation, he was not even a big leaguer. He was not a penny-ante, small-time operator either. But definitely, he did not belong to the Big Boys of jueteng even during his prime years as an illegal gambling operator. With what he has amassed, you have a general idea of the stash and the investment portfolios of the big leaguers.
And during his time, this retired jueteng operator was reputed to be “galante,” meaning he was handing out money left and right, and many of the recipients were not even protectors of the jueteng trade. Had he scaled-down his pay-offs during his prime, he could have amassed a bigger money pile.
It is mandatory for jueteng lords to pay off LGU officials and police officers. Because if a provincial governor says no to jueteng, there will be no jueteng in a province. The provincial commander can only take the cue from the governor – no LGU approval, no go. But a governor refusing jueteng is a rarity. He or she should be given a Medal of Valor.
The jueteng take is a proposition that a governor cannot refuse – unless imbued with superhuman virtues. For big provinces, the governor is given – at the very least – a P1 million retainer by the jueteng operator. The governors of small provinces get anywhere from P500,000 to P800,000 a month. The police provincial commander has a monthly payola that is slightly lower than that of the governor.
Who gets more money than the governor?
If the president is corrupt and is on the take, the president gets a blank check from the big gambling lords. The president on the take is then allowed to write the name on the check and the amount. There is no limit to the amount a corrupt president can demand from the gambling lords.
The PNP chief and the DILG secretary – if they are corrupt and on the take – get less than the president. But definitely more than what a PNP regional commander receives. Once a PNP chief or a DILG secretary decides to accept, the monthly take from jueteng for each is P5 million.
So the bribery structure in the jueteng racket is arranged very much like the pay corporations boards give to their CEOs and middle managers.
The CEO is the president of the republic. But Lloyd Blankfein of Goldman Sachs only gets the highest compensation; he does not get a blank check, which is the usual compensation the gambling lords give to a president of the republic who is on the take.
What do people and institutions with no control or influence over gambling get money from the gambling lords? Priests and bishops.
Gambling lords want a salve to their conscience. So they give heavily to priests and donate heavily to church-building or church reconstruction projects. This is similar to a practice of drug lords in Mexico, Colombia and elsewhere.
How do the gambling lords keep track of their payments?
They have so-called “blue books” that list down the recipients of the bribe money, from the politicians to the generals to the bishops.
Remember that the gambling lords are operating a numbers’ game and they are very meticulous about numbers – the huge money coming in and what goes out in form of bribe money to men in suits, in uniform and the cloth.
mvronq@yahoo.com
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