Determined to defang the powerful “jueteng” (illegal numbers game) syndicates, the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee wants to remove from mayors their power to select their own chiefs of police by withdrawing the requirement that they could choose from a list of three names submitted to them, reported Manila Bulletin Friday. Sen. Teofisto L. Guingona III, committee chairman, said he is likely to seek amendments to current laws related to the Local Government Code which empowers a mayor to select the chief of police from a list of three nominees prepared by the Philippine National Police (PNP). What the proposed amendment by Guingona meant is that mayors would just have to accept the chiefs of police selected by the PNP leadership. The proliferation or unchecked operation of jueteng has been traced to the acceptance of payola by PNP officials, mayors, governors, and even congressmen from jueteng operators. Guingona issued this statement on Thurday even before the start of his committee's scheduled September 21 hearing on the jueteng issue. The investigation will focus on allegations that jueteng operations under the current Aquino administration continue unchecked and that close allies of President Benigno S. Aquino III are receiving financial favors from jueteng syndicates as claimed by retired Archbishop Oscar Cruz. Called to the Senate Blue Ribbon Committee hearing next week were Archbishop Cruz; Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jesse Robredo and his Undersecretary Rico Puno; newly-installed PNP Chief, Deputy Director-General Raul Balcazo; and Romualdo Quinones, of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), in charge of the state-run Small Town Lottery (STL). “Today, we will provide democratic space and we will come out with recommendations. If the recommendation is to make a law, then we will file the necessary bill. If the recommendation is to amend the law, which most likely will be in the case of STL, then we will file the necessary bill and we will make sure that even in the House (of Representatives), the said bill will be filed and we will pursue it all the way through,” he explained. “Lastly, we will file recommendations with the Executive Department and periodically monitor the status of our recommendations,” he said. Bacalzo vehemently denied the allegation of whistleblower Sandra Cam that another whistleblower, Wilfredo “Boy” Mayor, testified before a Senate committee hearing five years ago that he mentioned a certain “Boy Tangkad.”
