DAGUPAN CITY–There is no stopping the Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Sugal in its fight against the seemingly unstoppable jueteng operations in the country.

In a telephone interview with this reporter, Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said the Krusada, formerly known as Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Jueteng which he chairs, launched Friday at the Catholic Bishops Conference of the Philippines (CBCP) office in Manila two anti-gambling materials, a concise
educational publication and brief revealing video.

Cruz, a former CBCP president and a staunch anti-jueteng advocate, said the first is the “Primer on Gambling 2006” in general, be this legal or illegal.

He said it says what is gambling, what is wrong with gambling, what are the popular forms of gambling, and what are the arguments purportedly in favor of gambling.

He added that the second is a video clearly showing how cheating is done specifically in Jueteng-with the intervention of Mr. Boy Mayor who was a former master Jueteng operator.

Mayor, who turned witness against his former allies in the jueteng circle during the unfinished Senate jueteng probe, remains under the care of Cruz and other supporters of the Krusada .

Cruz said in the video, the cheating or manipulation is demonstrated by an actual “bolador”, i.e., someone who to this date still draws the so called “winning numbers” of Jueteng. He said the numbers drawn are pre- determined by the findings of the “revisador”. This “employee” of every Jueteng operator knows what numbers have the least bets and should be wherefore made to win, he added.

The senior prelate said in the 23 January 2005 "Statement on Gambling", the CBCP took notice of the increasingly serious problem caused by gambling in the country.

He said for this reason, CBCP made the three following key pronouncements: One, CBCP considers all forms of legal and illegal gambling as morally undesirable and acceptable specially so when they are corporate, syndicated or organized. Two, the CBCP looks at the culture of gambling as seriously erosive of the moral fiber of people customarily engaging in it. Three, the CBCP considers it necessary to make a collective anti-gambling policy,
endorsing the truth that the end does not justify the means—such as gambling for charity as loudly and repeatedly claimed by PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation), PCSO (Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office) and Jueteng operators.

Cruz said the cited CBCP statement accordingly inspired the recent establishment of the “Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Sugal” side by side with the organization of already longexistent “Krusadang Bayan Laban Sa Jueteng”.

"But as expected, the national leadership while professing moral ascendancy and best leadership, either allows or even endorses the prolification of legal and illegal gambling in the country," Cruz said.

It is not a secret that PAGCOR continues to establish more casinos in the country notwithstanding the open protests of the communities concerned, he noted.

He added that it is well known how PCSO insists in putting up STL (small town lottery) in as many provinces as possible, in spite of the resistance of popular objection thereto.

"And Jueteng is back with a vengeance even if tri-media continue to repeatedly report its shameless resurgence specially in Luzon," Cruz said.

But the Krusada, according to Cruz, will be unrelenting in its campaign, saying that "The above manifest pro-gambling national policy notwithstanding, the “Krusadang Bayan Laban sa Sugal” is resolved to counter such an unethical posture of the present administration".–