Village chief’s son arrested for ‘masiao’

Police arrested the son of a barangay captain in Cebu City on suspicion that he was involved in masiao, an illegal numbers game.

Niño Sagarino Resurrecion, 30, was arrested by operatives of the City Intelligence Branch (CIB) past 9 p.m. Monday inside the house of his father, Suba barangay captain Roger Resurecion.

Chief Insp. Romeo Santander, chief of CIB, said that before the arrest, a policeman who posed as a bettor, bought number combinations from Niño.

Seized from the house were illegal gambling paraphernalia and P43,000 cash.

Santander said Niño was in the list of people suspected to be involved in illegal gambling.

Supt. Rex Derilo, deputy chief of the Regional Intelligence Division (RID), tagged Niño as one of the coordinators of Randy Boli-boli, who was also arrested for masiao two weeks ago.

Derilo said despite Boli-boli’s arrest, the illegal gambling activity continued.

“Bisan nadakpan na si Randy, pero iyang mga coordinator sige gihapon (Although Randy was already arrested, his coordinators continued with the illegal gambling operation),” Derilo said.

Senior Supt. Edward Carranza, deputy regional director for operation of the Police Regional Office in Central (PRO-7), said they will submit a report on Niño’s arrest to the office of the Department of Interior and Local Government for them to determine if the father was involved.

Carranza said it was unlikely that barangay captain was unaware of his son’s illegal activities.

Detained at the Cebu City Police Office, Niño admitted his involvement in masiao as a coordinator and a collector.

He, however, denied that his father was also involved in masiao .

“Dugay nako gibandlong niya (Roger) wa man ko mo-undang (My father had reprimanded me but I didn’t stop),” Niño said.  /CORRESPONDENT CHITO O. ARAGON