PNP intensifies campaign against illegal gambling
Published Feb 12, 2020 12:00 am
By Aaron Recuenco
Top police officials are set to meet with government's games and amusement licensing agencies as the Philippine National Police (PNP) steps up its drive against illegal gambling.
PNP chief Gen. Archie Gamboa said that the purpose of the meeting with officials of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) and the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) is to sort out gambling operations that are either operating illegally or exploiting licensed games using various modus operandi.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Archie Gamboa
"We want to thresh out which are illegal and which are not so that the public would know and likewise for our policemen to identify which of these could be subjected to police operations," said Gamboa in a press briefing on Wednesday after a mass wedding of cops and their partners at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Gamboa said he had already directed the Deputy Chief for Operations, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, to conduct an in-depth study of the various schemes of illegal gambling syndicates based on past operations and intelligence reports.
He said the operations units of the PNP will have two weeks to study and come up with recommendations that would be presented to PAGCOR and GAB officials.
The meetings are expected to come up with various agreements and coordination protocols that would be used by the PNP.
"We will be issuing specific guidelines on all of these gambling things," said Gamboa.
The PNP leadership has intensified its campaign against illegal gambling through the reiteration of two policies: No Take Policy and One Strike Policy.
The No Take policy prohibits policemen from taking protection money and gifts from gambling operators while the other one is the immediate relief of a police commander if illegal gambling exists in his area.
GAMBLING FEAST
For the past three years, illegal gambling operations were not given much attention as the police were busy with President Duterte's drug war.
A number of policemen have been arrested in the past months for either receiving protection money or for running illegal gambling operations like cockfighting.
In Metro Manila, several police commanders were sacked from their posts for failure to stop illegal gambling.
All forms of gambling during wakes and fiesta celebrations were also prohibited in Metro Manila.
ON-LINE SABONG, STL
Gamboa specifically mentioned online sabong (cockfighting) and Small Town Lottery as gambling forms with gray areas.
As the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) has allowed online sabong via live-streaming of cockfighting, several syndicates have taken advantage of this to pursue their own online sabong through illegal means, meaning, they have no license to operate.
The same has been a problem for the STL which became a front for jueteng operations.
Over the years, honest policemen would end up being slapped with a string of administrative and criminal charges for raiding jueteng operations.
The operators of jueteng would sue policemen after the raid by presenting proof that those arrested or confiscated are part of their STL operations.
The problem is that in some cases, an operator of a legitimate STL also runs illegal jueteng operations using STL as a front.
The result is low collection from STL since the bets that are supposedly intended for STL go to jueteng.
LONG PROCESS
Gamboa said that the issue if illegal gambling is complicated and the solution is expected to take time.
This is the reason, he said, why they want to meet with government's licensing and regulatory boards to clear things up.
"This is a long process. This will take some time," said Gamboa.
Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Archie Gamboa
"We want to thresh out which are illegal and which are not so that the public would know and likewise for our policemen to identify which of these could be subjected to police operations," said Gamboa in a press briefing on Wednesday after a mass wedding of cops and their partners at Camp Crame in Quezon City.
Gamboa said he had already directed the Deputy Chief for Operations, Lt. Gen. Guillermo Eleazar, to conduct an in-depth study of the various schemes of illegal gambling syndicates based on past operations and intelligence reports.
He said the operations units of the PNP will have two weeks to study and come up with recommendations that would be presented to PAGCOR and GAB officials.
The meetings are expected to come up with various agreements and coordination protocols that would be used by the PNP.
"We will be issuing specific guidelines on all of these gambling things," said Gamboa.
The PNP leadership has intensified its campaign against illegal gambling through the reiteration of two policies: No Take Policy and One Strike Policy.
The No Take policy prohibits policemen from taking protection money and gifts from gambling operators while the other one is the immediate relief of a police commander if illegal gambling exists in his area.
GAMBLING FEAST
For the past three years, illegal gambling operations were not given much attention as the police were busy with President Duterte's drug war.
A number of policemen have been arrested in the past months for either receiving protection money or for running illegal gambling operations like cockfighting.
In Metro Manila, several police commanders were sacked from their posts for failure to stop illegal gambling.
All forms of gambling during wakes and fiesta celebrations were also prohibited in Metro Manila.
ON-LINE SABONG, STL
Gamboa specifically mentioned online sabong (cockfighting) and Small Town Lottery as gambling forms with gray areas.
As the Games and Amusement Board (GAB) has allowed online sabong via live-streaming of cockfighting, several syndicates have taken advantage of this to pursue their own online sabong through illegal means, meaning, they have no license to operate.
The same has been a problem for the STL which became a front for jueteng operations.
Over the years, honest policemen would end up being slapped with a string of administrative and criminal charges for raiding jueteng operations.
The operators of jueteng would sue policemen after the raid by presenting proof that those arrested or confiscated are part of their STL operations.
The problem is that in some cases, an operator of a legitimate STL also runs illegal jueteng operations using STL as a front.
The result is low collection from STL since the bets that are supposedly intended for STL go to jueteng.
LONG PROCESS
Gamboa said that the issue if illegal gambling is complicated and the solution is expected to take time.
This is the reason, he said, why they want to meet with government's licensing and regulatory boards to clear things up.
"This is a long process. This will take some time," said Gamboa.