At the investiture of the second president of the University of Luzon this week, a top Philippine politician is reported as having asked the Archbishop of Dagupan-Lingayen, Oscar Cruz, to assist with the creation of a new gambling structure for the nation. The Archbishop is a prominent anti-gambling crusader, who considers that legal and illegal gambling have ‘the same vicious denominators: they fool and exploit the poor.’ It would appear, then, that it is highly unlikely that Cruz would come onboard the government initiative.

The illegal numbers game jeuteng is still much played in the Philippines despite all efforts to eradicate it. A presidential order to eradicate the game by 15 September has had little effect and Archbishop Cruz as recently as yesterday questioned, on his ‘blogspot’, why President Arroyo made the order with no police or other backup to enforce it. On 24 August Malacañang, the Philippine government, denied it would introduce Bingo Combo in lieu of jeuteng, at the same time stating that attempts to legalize jeuteng did not have the support of President Arroyo.

The Philippine Daily Enquirer has now published a report that Archbishop Cruz has been asked by the government Speaker Jose de Venecia to work out a philosophical basis for the new gambling structure, so that Church and Executive can agree and cooperate in arriving at an acceptable formula. According to the report, the Speaker went so far as to suggest that Cruz and the President have the same ideas and that the antagonism had been caused by ‘intriguers’.

Many in the Philippine Church are not opposed to legal gambling and the charitable funding obtained from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO). In contrast, Archbishop Cruz is vehemently opposed to any form of gambling and is loud in his condemnation. Therefore it is difficult to see that an attempt to legitimize jeuteng and bring it under government control could ever find an ‘acceptable formula’ or ‘philosophical basis’ in the eyes of Oscar Cruz.
(E-11.10.05)

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