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San Jose, Antique: Bishop Romulo de la Cruz of the
Diocese of Antique aired the appeal of the Catholic Church to the
local officials of Antique to stop Small Time Lottery (STL)
operation or any forms of illegal gambling during the recently
conducted Peace and Order Council Meeting.
Saying that STL though legal is a
cover-up for the illegal number game jueteng, Bishop de la Cruz
asked, “can we be a country that is morally righteous if we depend
on gambling to fund government projects?”
Bishop de la Cruz emphasized that
the stand of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines
is against all forms of gambling whether legal or illegal because
with STL and jueteng, our poor people become poorer while the
gambling payola recipients become twice enriched.
The appeal further stated that:
Is it not enough that there are already millions of poor people in
the country? Is it not enough that there are men, women and children
in the country who no longer eat what they need, when they have to?
Is there not enough poverty in the country that the poor should have
even less because of STL and jueteng?
With the crackdown, the
Philippine National Police in the province claims there’s no more
STL operating in the province contrary to what is written in various
tabloids.
With Bishop de la Cruz’s
appeal, Gov. Sally Z. Perez again ordered the PNP for a no let-up
campaign against all number games or suffer the consequences of a
reprimand or transfer outside of the province.
Vice-Governor Rhodora Cadiao also
echoed the governor’s order and said that the Sangguniang
Panlalawigan has not approved any application for the STL operation
or does it intend to approve any such application.
Rep. Exequiel B. Javier told The Times that he is strongly against
the operation of STL in Antique.
--Ely Suyom
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