Cops nab 109 in antigambling drive, none of them financiers
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY—All small fry.
Police in Northern Mindanao have admitted that none of the more than 100 persons arrested in the campaign against illegal gambling that started on Sept. 17 is a financier.
Supt. Surki Serenas, regional police spokesperson, acknowledged that police have arrested only ushers, or frontline workers, in the illegal gambling trade and not those who are considered to be big fish.
Serenas said it is probably because financiers “only hire people to do the work for them.”
“Usually these gambling financiers are not around,” Serenas said.
He said hunting financiers is difficult as those who had been arrested, numbering 109, are mum on who their bosses are.
It is not easy to establish the connection of suspected financiers with illegal lotto operations, Serenas said.
Nationwide implementation
Police in the region launched a revitalized anti-illegal gambling campaign even before the national police headquarters can order its nationwide implementation.
Director General Ronald dela Rosa, Philippine National Police chief, had said the illegal gambling trade is also a priority in the campaign against criminality.
Crackdown
Chief Supt. Noel Constantino, Northern Mindanao regional police director, has directed police units to assign personnel to go after illegal gambling operations.
“This crackdown is undertaken in light of reports that in some areas, there are drug lords who are also financiers of illegal gambling operations. The crackdown on illegal gambling operations will also deprive drug lords of money they derive from illegal gambling,” Constantino said during the campaign’s launching.
Serenas said only a small number of policemen were involved in the anti-illegal gambling campaign as the bulk of police personnel in the region—made up of the provinces of Bukidnon, the two Misamis provinces, Camiguin, and Lanao del Norte and the cities of Valencia, Malaybalay, Gingoog, El Salvador, Ozamiz, Oroquieta, Tangub, Cagayan and Iligan—will still focus on the drug campaign. —JIGGER JERUSALEM
