Stop e-bingo operations, mayor told

BAGUIO CITY—Church leaders led by Bishop Carlito Cenzon of the Baguio vicariate are discouraging Mayor Mauricio Domogan from renewing the permits of electronic bingo outfits in the city.

“Gambling when available becomes a choice. A choice between being in the gambling dens rather in school, work, home or in fruitful endeavors,” they said in a letter to Domogan.

“It is a choice between betting or using money for food and basic necessities. It is a choice between gambling time as against fruitful time spent with family and friends. It is a choice between believing in chance or becoming an honest earner.”

The letter was transmitted ahead of President Duterte’s directive to stop all forms of online gaming during his visit to the Clark Freeport on Dec. 22.

Cenzon and church leaders belonging to the Baguio-Benguet Ecumenical Group have been waging a campaign against gambling in the summer capital.

In 2015, they demanded an investigation into the operation of an “e-Bingo Boutique” which was granted a permit allegedly using a council resolution bearing forged signatures.

The supposedly fake council endorsement was exposed in February 2015 by Vice Mayor Edison Bilog but the city council passed a new resolution in May 2015 endorsing the same operation. The churches asked the Office of the Ombudsman to investigate the council.

During its session on Dec. 12, the city council discussed the application of an outfit to operate e-Bingo games at the Maharlika Livelihood Center beside the city public market. —VINCENT CABREZA