Woman cop brings toughness to gambling war

BANSALAN, Davao del Sur—Police finally raided illegal gambling outlets here, prompting the town mayor to say women were tougher than men because the police operation started only after a woman took over the helm of the town’s police force.

“Do women have more balls than men?” Mayor Edwin Reyes said after Senior Insp. Milgrace Driz, the newly installed town police chief, led her men in tearing down outlets that take bets for the illegal numbers game, Last Two.

Driz had just been police chief for three weeks, long after the betting outlets, known as frontons, were put up here.

Aside from frontons, Driz also led operations to dismantle betting outlets disguised as cell phone reloading stations.

Driz said among those demolished were betting stations in the Poblacion area, which were near churches, schools and police outposts.

No one has been arrested, though, according to Driz. She said, however, that gambling paraphernalia seized during the raids provided clues to the identities of those running the illegal numbers game network.

Driz said she received reports that some licensed outlets of the government-sanctioned game lotto are also accepting bets for Last Two, which bases its winning numbers on the last two digits of lotto results.

“We are verifying the information,” said Driz, who shuns publicity.

She said Last Two was so rampant that bets were being taken inside beauty parlors, barber shops, eateries and even school and office supply stores.

Reyes said only determination by the police could put a stop to the illegal numbers game.

“It may even take a woman to dismantle the operation,” said the mayor in reference to Driz.

In Digos City, the city police chief, a man, continued to complain that putting a stop to Last Two was easier said than done.

Supt. Solomon de Castilla said many of the frontons are just renting space in private structures. “We cannot just demolish these structures,” De Castilla said in a text message.

He also sought to correct what he said was an erroneous Inquirer report saying Last Two operators were openly defying a city council resolution asking police to put a stop to the illegal numbers game.

De Castilla said frontons in the city have closed shop since the resolution passed.

An Inquirer source, however, said while the shops have closed, bets continue to be collected. The operations, said the source, are “back to the old days of guerrilla-type operations.”

Cell phone reloading stations, said the source, take bets in between selling cell phone loads.

Councilor Serafin Senajon Jr., the author of the city council resolution, said betting stations in the city have “mushroomed.”