20 May 2008 | 08-0398 |

Maurice Malanes
Manila (ENI). Despite facing a libel suit, a Filipino archbishop says he will continue his role as a critic of the government's promotion of legal gambling, and what he says is the authorities' alleged blessing of illegal gaming.

"Not even the iron bars of prison can prevent me from continuing my crusade against both legal and illegal gambling, which is being promoted by this government," Roman Catholic Archbishop Oscar Cruz of Lingayen in Pangasinan told Ecumenical News International.

Cruz posted bail of 10 000 pesos (US$235) on 14 May for his release after Judge Antonio Rosales of the Manila regional trial court had issued a warrant for the archbishop's arrest on 12 May.

Employees of the government-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation sued the archbishop for saying in a statement in 2004 that female employees, "were made to act as nothing more than pitiful GROs [guest relations officers]" during a birthday party for Jose Miguel Arroyo, the husband of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo.

The Manila City Prosecutor's Office dismissed the original complaint against Cruz in 2004 but the Department of Justice reversed the decision and in 2008 ordered the complainants to file the charges again.

In a phone interview with Ecumenical News International on 15 May, the 74-year-old prelate said the libel charges against him were being encouraged by "those in power" as their way of silencing his crusade against both big-time legal and illegal gambling.

He lamented that the government of President Arroyo had been promoting "a culture of gambling".

"Now we have gambling for all classes - casinos for the upper class, lotto for the middle-class, and bingo, small-town lotteries and jueteng [an illegal numbers game] for the lower class," Archbishop Cruz told ENI.

The government-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation legally operates casinos and lotto, while city, provincial and municipal governments run small-town lotteries and bingo, which are also legal. Monies from the gaming corporation go into a "presidential social fund" that President Arroyo's office distributes when natural disasters occur.

Although illegal, jueteng, also described as "the poor man's lotto", is said to be protected by local and national officials, including those in the military and police. In the past, Cruz has exposed big-time jueteng lords, whom he linked to the Arroyos. Arroyo and her husband denied the allegation.

On the libel case against him, Cruz said that whether he is found guilty or not, "The Arroyo government is going to be the loser because the more I'll speak up against this gambling disease".

For his part, Justice Secretary Raul Gonzales told reporters, "Not even a bishop is exempt from the long arm of the law. So he [Cruz] can get jailed if the court finds him guilty."

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