Talks are abuzz that there is now, not two, but only one undisputed Lord of Jueteng, the illegal numbers game in the entire province of Quezon. Sources say this person, who now sits as a mayor of a town, has consolidated all the forces of previous jueteng lords including that of alleged jueteng queen Donya Rosario “Charing” Lee Magbuhos, who died last 2018 at the ripe old age of 81.

With the death of Magbuhos, the partnership which she had with a brother of a former Cabinet secretary and close confidante of Mr. Duterte fell through. It seems that the so-called “partnership” did not really materialized as how these parties intended since the brother and the ex cabinet secretary were only interested in dominating the STL operations in Quezon.

This cab sec reportedly tried to threaten the old queen of jueteng. Instead of opposing him, the queen just agreed on the partnership knowing full well that this would benefit her and would not affect her STL operations. A source told me that the Donya knew from the very start that these brothers would never be able to dominate the market since they are upstarts and their links with former generals who just use these brothers as their fronts. Eventually, this shaky relationship will falter and die.

The mayor, on the other hand, is said to be a smooth operator, able to wheel and deal his way with people. He has the backing of thousands and has the wealth to fund his operations.

With only a handful of police officials and lacking the firepower to sustain their presence in the area, the brother reportedly conceded to this town mayor.  This brother of a former cabinet secretary reportedly resigned from his previous posh job and together with his brother, dominated the STL and jueteng operations from Batangas to Bicol, a move which affected operations of another big-time gambling figure in the person of Charlie “Atong” Ang.

This mayor is said to be a political maverick, and enjoys the confidence of other gambling operators, including no less than Charlie “Atong” Ang. He now earns roughly 5 million pesos daily.