Cop, mailman nabbed in Pangasinan cockpit arena

DAGUPAN CITY — Police on Friday arrested a policeman and a mail courier inside a cockpit arena in Aguilar town in Pangasinan province.

PO1 Michael Moreno, 30, a policeman of the San Clemente police station in Tarlac province, did not resist arrest when Aguilar police chief Senior Insp. Rowel Albano apprehended him at 2:50 p.m.

Also arrested was Mars Guiwo Quiñones, 49, a letter carrier of the Philippine Postal Corp. (Philpost) in Mangatarem town.

Albano said Moreno and Quiñones were the first government employees in town to be caught inside a gambling establishment in violation of President Rodrigo Duterte’s directive last week banning government workers from all gambling facilities like casinos—part of a crackdown on public servants with lavish lifestyles.

The police responded to a tip on Friday morning.

Albano said Quiñones was wearing a Philpost shirt.

Albano said he put up a sign last week near the entrance of the cockpit arena saying “Government employees are prohibited from gambling in this cockpit arena.” /jpv