ILOILO CITY – The Police Regional Office 6 will impose a one-strike policy on illegal gambling in Western Visayas.
“We will implement a one-strike policy to all unit commanders,” said Col. Arnold Thomas Ibay, deputy regional director for operations of the Police Regional Office (PRO-6), following the reported rise of illegal gambling activities in the region in the past month.
“Anyone who has no knowledge about the illegal operation of number games and upon positive operation by the Regional Intelligence Division (RID) validating teams, the chief of police or station commander will be immediately relieved,” warned Ibay.
“For two positive operations in a province or city, the provincial or city director will be administratively relieved,” Ibay said.
Brig. Gen. Leo Francisco, PRO-6 director, ordered Ibay to intensify the campaign against illegal gambling.
Police unit commanders have been urged to coordinate with Authorized Agent Corporation (AAC) or Small Town Lottery (STL) operators with licenses from Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in Aklan, Antique, Capiz, Guimaras, Iloilo, and Negros Occidental provinces as well as the highly urbanized cities of Iloilo and Bacolod.
Under the one-strike policy, police commanders who ignore and fail to act on the illegal gambling operations in their areas will be relieved from their posts immediately.