TIRSO “Jun” Lontok, one of the 13 men who were killed in an alleged “rubout” in Atimonan town in Quezon province last week, was allegedly the “bagman” of Vice Gov. Vicente “Kulit” Alcala who runs his own illegal gambling operations in the Southern Tagalog region, sources said on Tuesday.

The Manila Times’ sources said that Lontok was also a distant relative and employee of former Quezon rep. and now Agriculture Secretary Proceso Alcala, the vice governor’s brother.

Rep. Danilo Suarez of Quezon, in an interview, confirmed the relationship between Lontok and the Alcalas. Suarez said that he knew Lontok as a good person who also worked for the mayor of Sariaya town.

The Times’ source said that Lontok was at the office of the agriculture secretary before Sunday’s incident. He also regularly met with Vicente.

The group of Lontok and brothers Victor and Jerry Siman, who ran jueteng operations in Calamba, Laguna and in the province of Batangas, was on its way to Bicol Region, carrying at least P10 million as seed capital for the operation of new “bookies” there.

“Jueteng ang talagang dahilan. P2 million ang kita ng jueteng sa Calamba kada araw [Jueteng was the reason. It rakes in P2 million a day in Calamba alone], the source said, alluding to the deadly gunbattle that led to the killing of Lontok, the Simans and 10 others and the wounding of Police Supt. Hansel Marantan of the province’s Special Operations Group.

Allegedly, the Simans were closing the deal to operate their “bookies” in Bicol Region with the help of Lontok, who was also reportedly close to local communist guerillas in the area.

The source also said that the Simans were the rivals of Marantan whose sister, a certain Aling Tita, is fronting for the police official in running his own illegal gambling operations in the area.

In Quezon, only Pirouette Gaming Corp. was granted the franchise to operate the Small Town Lottery, which is being used as jueteng front.

There were rumors that a high-ranking cabinet official was trying to snatch the bookies operation in Quezon and Laguna provinces and that public officials, police authorities and some media personalities are receiving “payola” from gambling lords.

Retired Lingayen-Dagupan archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz, in an interview over dzMM, confirmed that Lontok was in the list of figures involved in the illegal numbers game.

When asked if he had encountered the name Tirso Lontok in the past, Cruz quickly replied: “Yes. I heard that name before.”

A background check on Lontok, showed that he was an environmentalist who won the trust and confidence of the Left for organizing the group Luntiang Alyansa sa Bundok Banahaw.

A province-wide clean-up campaign called Quezon Laban sa Basura, was also founded by him.

Besides Lontok, Cruz said that the name of Marantan was included in the list of those involved in the operation of illegal gambling.

“Yes. That [Marantan’s name] was also mentioned before although it was not given prominence
because his rank was not that high,” the prelate stressed.

Cruz also described Vic Siman as among the top jueteng personalities in the region.

Cruz’s and the Times sources’ statements bolstered suspicions that last week’s encounter was actually an ambush staged by Marantan.

The relatives of the slain suspects have appealed for an investigation into the incident, since Marantan has been known to be keeping a grudge with the Simans over illegal gambling operations.

According to another Times source, the three-vehicle convoy was not even stopped at a checkpoint but was strafed with bullets when they passed by it.

“They have a police colonel with them who could just order those manning the checkpoint to stand down. He will surely be the one who would negotiate with his fellow officers manning the checkpoint. If they decide to ignore the checkpoint, which would be foolish, they will surely meet trouble at the next stop,” said the source who is privy to jueteng operations.

“It was a rubout. They were shot as they passed the checkpoint. The last vehicle managed to flee and escape,” the source stressed, adding that the third vehicle was a Nissan Patrol.

The police colonel he was referring to was Supt. Alfredo Consemino, an official of the Mimaropa—Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan —police, who was reportedly a friend and business associate of the Siman brothers.

According to the source, Marantan’s wounds were outrageous because if he had accosted the armed men as earlier reported, he should have been shot in the chest or even the head and not on the arm and leg.

“If there was a firefight, why was he the only one hit? It was more likely that he had shot himself after the ambush,” the source noted.