Cops donate drum of coins to Red Cross

The Philippine National Red Cross has received a fresh infusion of funds—P32,000 in coins seized in police raids against illegal gambling operations in Laguna province, officials said Tuesday.

The coins were retrieved from 101 gaming machines confiscated during raids over the past week in the towns of San Pedro, Cabuyao and Sta. Cruz and the cities of Biñan, Sta. Rosa and Calamba, said Superintendent Gilbert Cruz, Laguna police chief.

The coins were placed in a drum and later turned over to the Red Cross chapter in Laguna, he added.

Cruz said the gaming machines, which were destroyed during rites at the provincial police headquarters in Sta. Rosa, featured “fruit games” and “video karera” that offered prizes for a minimal bet of P1.

A fruit game machine is similar to those found in casinos in which a bettor wins if the machine shows a single line of the same type of fruit; video karera simulates horse racing.

“We made sure we didn’t just destroy the screens but the motherboards themselves because if you didn’t, the motherboards could be recycled into new machines,” Cruz said.

No arrests were made.

Cruz said it was difficult to catch gambling operators in action because they leave the machines in strategic places in the towns and cities.

“So the best thing to do is to find the machines and get rid of them,” he said.

Cruz  said the destruction of the illegal gambling machines was a campaign of Chief Superintendent James Melad, police director for Calabarzon (Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal, Quezon). It was first implemented in Laguna.

He said the machines were usually found in some of the poorest areas of the province where illegal drug use was also rampant.

This form of illegal gambling generates P3,000 to P5,000 in  bets per day from a single machine, he added.