3 Negros Oriental police chiefs sacked over Swertres

Interior Secretary Jesse Robredo. INQUIRER FILE PHOTO

The police chiefs of three municipalities in Negros Oriental have been sacked for failing to stop the proliferation of the illegal numbers game Swertres in their areas, Interior Secretary Jesse M. Robredo said Thursday.

Relieved were Chief Inspector Dominicias Distrito, chief of police of Tanjay City; Inspector Romulos Delfin of Dauin town; and Inspector Deogracias Lorico of Valencia town.

Robredo said the three chiefs of police were ordered relieved by Negros Oriental police provincial director Senior Superintendent Edward Carranza as part of the enforcement of the Philippine National Police’s  (PNP) one-strike policy on illegal gambling.

“Those other COPs (chiefs of police) who will defy our standing one-strike policy against illegal gambling shall suffer the same fate,” Robredo said in a statement.

“I am giving stern warning to other COPs and PNP provincial directors that I won’t hesitate to order their relief if they would fail in our antigambling campaign,” he added.

Swertres is an illegal numbers game whose winning combination is derived from the thrice-a-day draws of the three-digit lottery games run by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), Carranza said in his report to Robredo.

The police official added that Swertres games were being operated by different gambling lords in almost every municipality in Negros Oriental, particularly Dauin and Valencia towns and Tanjay City, where they were most prevalent.

“Most of them [have] the discreet blessings of local politicians,” Carranza said in the statement.

Unlike jueteng, which requires “papelitos” (papers) and a small area to draw winning combinations, Swertres can be played only using a cellular phone and by monitoring the PCSO draw results on radio, Carranza said.

“Nowadays, Swertres operators are using the latest communication technology, placing their bets via text messaging and no money is involved in the betting process,” he said.

“The bettors would just type their numbers and amount of bets and text them to the bet collectors. Since both know each other, the payments for the winning or losing bets are being done later. So, it’s really hard to catch them. But we  won’t stop in pursuing them,” Carranza said.

Originally posted at 10:24 am | Thursday, June 07,  2012