The P10 million a month Pangasinan Gov. Amado Espino, Jr.
News reports about Pangasinan Governor Amado Espino, Jr. as a jueteng lord is nothing new. On Sept. 20, 2010, retired Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz gave the Senate committee investigating the illegal numbers game a list containing 12 names of jueteng lords, operators and recipients of payola which he said his group, Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Jueteng, had cross-checked with several sources including those with the Philippine National Police and the Department of Interior and Local Government.
Espino’s name was there together with that of two people close to President Aquino: former Interior and Local Government Undersecretary Rico E. Puno and former Philippine National Police chief Jesus Verzosa, touted to be the next DILG secretary but had to retire early due his negligence in the Aug 23, 2010 Rizal park hostage-taking fiasco.
Other names in the list were Pampanga Gov. Lilia “Baby” Pineda, Paul Dy in Isabela, Ret. Police Supt. Eugene Martin, Baguio Mayor Mauricio Domogan; Danny Soriano in Cagayan; Ret. Gen. Padilla in Pasay, Parañaque, Muntinlupa and San Pedro; Boy Jalandoni in Bacolod; Eddie Fontanilla; and Rey Cachuela.
After a few days in the headlines, the news died down and Malacañang didn’t take any action. Puno was forced only to resign when he got embroiled in the controversial search of the residence of the later DILG Secretary Jesse Robredo while the search for his (Robredo’s) body was still going on after a plane crash.
In a TV interview, Press Secretary Edwin Lacierda said the problem with the list of Archbishop Cruz was that it was not supported by evidence.
Bugallon Mayor Rodrigo Orduna with by DILG Secretary Mar Roxas and Archbishop Oscar Cruz
Archbishop Cruz is right. The government has the resources and the machinery to validate the allegations in the list. If Malacanang is interested it can mobilize the National Bureau of Investigation and all its intelligence agencies including that of the PNP and the military, if it is really interested to eradicate the illegal numbers game which victimizes the poor and distorts democracy through the use of jueteng money in politics.
The archbishop said he and his witnesses took great risks in giving the government information on jueteng. “I have faced the Senate before, brought all my witnesses without benefit of lawyer or security. We named names, we identified amounts, we said all circumstances and nothing. Even one of our whistleblowers was killed. Even to this day, we don’t know who did it.”
Cruz must have been referring to Wilfredo”Boy” Mayor, one of the jueteng whistleblowers who was gunned down in Pasay City in Feb. 2010.
Last Friday, Archbishop Cruz was again with Pangasinan Mayor Rodrigo Orduña who revealed that he was doing a “Chavit” for Espino since 2001, turning over to him at least P3 million a month collection from jueteng operators.
When Espino became governor in 2007, he took control of the jueteng operations in Pangasinan and was collecting P10 million a month, Orduna said.
Orduña’s revelation was corroborated by confessed jueteng operator Fernando “Boy Bata”Alimagno.
The two filed plunder charges against Espino with the Office of the Ombudsman alleging that he accepted P900 million jueteng money.
It is worth noting that Orduña said he started collecting jueteng money for Espino who was then a member of the House of Representative (2nd district) in 2001, which was the year an elected president, Joseph Estrada by the so called “civil society” calling for reforms in the government.
Civil society installed then Vice President Gloria Arroyo, who is widely known as “anak ng jueteng” because one of her top elections contributors was Rodolfo “Bong” Pineda, a known jueteng lord.
Espino denied Orduña’s allegations saying “it’s politically motivated.”
Maybe. Although Espino, a retired PNP officer, has abandoned Arroyo and claims to support the Aquino administration, he belongs to the Nationalist People’s Coalition of Eduardo “Danding” Cojuangco. He is not with the Liberal Party, the political party of the President Aquino and DILG Secretary Mar Roxas.
Maybe because he does not belong to the political party that is in power, there’s a good chance of the plunder case against Espino prospering. Maybe, there would be more validation of the role of other personalities in Cruz’s list. Maybe there’s a good chance that jueteng in Central Luzon would be stopped as Roxas vowed.
If that happens, then that’s good politics.