Anti Illegal Gambling Campaign
MANILA – The number of arrests conducted by the Philippine National Police (PNP) has increased by over 200% amid illegal gambling business operations in the country.
The government campaign also seeks to cut down on illegal gambling, given that the adult entertainment slots undermine the agency’s budget and, as a result, Puerto Rico’s promotional and marketing efforts are affected, because it reduces income generated by hotel-run casino slot machines. 236 nabbed in anti-illegal gambling in Bicol. He said the campaign against illegal gambling should be strictly implemented and warned all police provincial directors and town and city police. The PNP leadership has intensified its campaign against illegal gambling through the reiteration of two policies: No Take Policy and One Strike Policy.
This is after President Rodrigo Duterte ordered in January to intensify the fight against illegal gambling.
In a consultative meeting with the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) and officials of the Local Government Units (LGU) yesterday, Police Senior Supt. Emmanuel Licup, the acting Executive Officer of the PNP Directorate for Operations, reported that most of the arrests were made during operations in Central Visayas and in Northern Mindanao.
“Compared to 2016 of the same period, 251% of the confiscated cash and articles had been confiscated by the PNP regarding illegal gambling. The number of operations conducted from 2,746 is up to 4,938 or let’s say 80% increase,” PSSupt. Licup said.
PCSO Chair Jose Jorge Corpuz said the government is losing a lot due to illegal gambling operations.
The millions of unpaid taxes should have been allocated to health and social services.
The official also calls on the public to report to the PNP any illegal gambling business entities in their areas.
PNP meanwhile guarantees that enforcers who will be caught receiving “payola” to protect illegal gambling operations will be charged accordingly.
“Once we receive a report, we immediately file cases against our personnel if there are such irregularities happening down in the police stations,” Corpuz said. — Joyce Balancio UNTV News & Rescue
MANILA --Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, Gen. Archie Francisco Gamboa on Friday wants regular destruction of video karera (horse racing video game) machines as part of continuous efforts to topple illegal gambling in the country.
Gamboa led the destruction of 56 units of video karera machines with Quezon City Police District (QCPD) chief, Brig. Gen. Ronnie Montejo to show their accomplishment in the anti-illegal gambling drive.
'Gusto ko gawin destruction every week (I want the destruction to be done every week),' Gamboa told reporters in a chance interview after the event held at Camp Karingal, Quezon City.
The destroyed units were confiscated from the 22 various anti-gambling operations in Quezon City, Montejo said.
The PNP chief reiterated that all forms of illegal gambling are prohibited in the country such as jueteng, video karera, tupada (cockfighting), among others.
Gamboa earlier ordered a one-strike policy among police officials who would fail to stop illegal gambling operations in their areas of jurisdiction.
He said the actions of all police unit commanders in enforcing the campaign against corruption and crimes against public morals, particularly illegal gambling would weigh 'heavily' in the succeeding rounds of individual performance evaluation.
He urged the public to help the police to beat the operators of illegal gambling.
'We seek the help of the community, tulungan ang kapulisan (We seek the help of the community to help the police),' Gamboa said.
He said that he was satisfied with the action of the QCPD, which he singled out recently for its accomplishment against illegal gambling.
For his part, Montejo said the drive against illegal gambling in the city would never stop.
'Maganda naman po ang ginagawa ng station commanders (The works of the station commanders have been good),' Montejo told reporters.
He commended his officers and men for their relentless efforts in the conduct of anti-illegal gambling operations which yielded significant arrests and confiscation of paraphernalia.
Montejo also encouraged the public to report to authorities if they know any illegal gambling operations in the area so that the police can immediately respond to it.
Recently, National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) chief, Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas ordered the arrest of the owner of establishments found hosting video karera machines.
Sinas also said that he wanted more teeth in the operations.
Sinas said those leasing their spaces to video karera operators get a huge profit from this activity.
“Most of the stores allow it because as per our source, they received 20 percent of the total profit. It is really big and yet they still deny it,” he said in Filipino.
Pnp Anti-illegal Gambling Campaign Plan
From Oct. 12, 2019 to Jan. 19, 2020, Sinas said the five Metro Manila police districts confiscated a total of PHP1,508,658 cash from 2,587 operations against various forms of illegal gambling, including video karera, and arrested 7,926 persons.
Anti-illegal Gambling Campaign Flyers
The five districts covered by the NCRPO are the Manila Police District (MPD), Quezon City Police District (QCPD), Northern Police District (NPD), Southern Police District (SPD), and Eastern Police District (EPD). (PNA)