MANILA, 20 May 2005 — Finally breaking her silence, Philippine President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo yesterday ordered an investigation into allegations that members of her family had received payoffs from gangs that run a popular but illegal numbers game.
Malaca?ang Palace, the presidential office, announced the investigation amid warnings from Arroyo’s own allies and foes alike that she could suffer the fate of her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, if the scandal goes out of hand.
“Together with other illegal numbers games, jueteng’s greedy and deadly tentacles have their grip all over the country. It renders many persons in authority deaf, blind and dumb,” said Catholic Bishop Oscar Cruz, the archbishop of Dagupan in the northern Philippines. Cruz warned that “jueteng once started a revolt,” referring to the military-backed uprising of 2001 that led to the downfall of Estrada amid charges that he and his son Jinggoy received $60 million from “jueteng” lords.
Arroyo’s spokesman Ignacio Bunye said yesterday that the president was not taking the allegations against her relatives lightly. “The president has ordered the Department of Justice and the Ombudsman, whichever has jurisdiction, to look thoroughly into the allegations and to file the necessary charges, if warranted,” Bunye said in a press statement.
Early this month, the Philippine Daily Inquirer quoted two people as saying they had given gambling money to representatives of Arroyo’s husband, Jose Miguel Arroyo, and eldest son Mikey, who is a member of the House of Representatives.
The Inquirer report also named the president’s brother-in-law Ignacio Arroyo, also a member of the House of Representatives, as one of the recipients of the illegal money.
Responding to the allegations, Miguel Arroyo said in a statement the allegations were “completely false and totally malicious, peddled by tainted sources who themselves admit to being part of the lower denizens of illegal gambling.”
Opposition lawmakers said that mere denials through the media would not help erase the public perception that the Arroyos were involved in the illegal numbers game.
“Because of the gravity of the charge, they should prove beyond doubt that they are clean and not respond by simple denials. They should confront their accusers and prove that they are wrong,” said Rep. Francis Escudero, the minority floor leader at the House of Representatives.
In its report, the Inquirer said the two men it interviewed had worked in jueteng operations, submitted affidavits and were willing to testify at a Senate inquiry, which was meant to start this week but has been postponed. The paper quoted one man as saying Arroyo’s son Mikey had asked for 500,000 pesos from regional jueteng operators in 2002. The other said he had collected money on her husband’s behalf.
It also quoted Sen. Panfilo Lacson, one of four challengers to Arroyo in last year’s presidential election, as saying four jueteng operators would give “very explosive testimony” at the Senate hearing.
