Bishop: Puno gets P8M per month
MANILA, Philippines—Interior Undersecretary Rico E. Puno, a close friend of President Aquino’s, was identified Tuesday as one of the two “ultimate recipients” of payola from operators of “jueteng,” an illegal numbers racket, allegedly getting up to P8 million a month.
To spare Mr. Aquino from further embarrassment, several senators urged Puno to either take a leave of absence or resign from his post.
Puno and retired Philippine National Police Director General Jesus Verzosa were named the top beneficiaries of jueteng money, according to a list Archbishop Emeritus Oscar Cruz submitted to the three Senate committees jointly investigating the illegal numbers game.
Puno, Verzosa and retired Senior Supt. Rey Cachuela were collectively known as the “Three Kings” on the list, a copy of which was obtained by the Inquirer last week.
The list showed that Puno and Verzosa were allegedly receiving every month P5 million to P8 million each in exchange for allowing jueteng operations to continue.
Cachuela allegedly collected on behalf of the “Three Kings” from a certain Elly Fontanilla, their point man on the ground. Fontanilla reportedly replaced a certain Boy Tangkad who was gunned down last year.Read Full Story