BAGUIO CITY – Jueteng lords defied a directive of new Cordillera regional police director Benjamin Magalongwho ordered his men to go on an all-out drive against illegal gambling in the region.
Sources said bet collectors locally called kubradorshave actually become more aggressive in openly getting bets in public areas like sari-sari stores, jeep terminals, restaurants, sidewalks and even city hall unhampered.
This as top police officials in Camp Crame said police officials where jueteng abounds would not be relieved“if they (police officials) are doing measures to stop illegal gambling.”
It is only police chiefs who are reportedly not doing anything to stop jueteng who would be relieved.
Church authorities earlier said juetengcorrupted the morals of the people including those in government.
To date illegal jueteng operations were still being conducted by “lords” of the illegal numbers game not only in the Cordillera but other parts of northern and Central Luzon at press time, according to informants.
Identified areas where juetengwere prevalent in the Cordillera included Baguio, and the provinces of Abra and Kalinga and Benguet. Towns in Benguet where jueteng was prevalent were La Trinidad, Itogon. Tuba, Tublay, Mankayan and Buguias.
In Baguio, jueteng draws have reportedly increased from three to four draws daily with bets being taken from nearby Benguet towns like Itogon and Tuba.
In Mankayan and Buguias, jueteng had reportedly been unhampered despite reports about the illegal numbers game in the two mining and vegetable towns respectively.
Concerned residents and cause-oriented groups have been assailing the police under the former regional police command saying its garnering a citation for “best regional police command” nationwide was a farce since illegal gambling had not been curbed or stopped in the Cordillera but became worse.
They said they expected the new police command under Chief Supt. Magalong to be serious in stopping illegal gambling aside from addressing other crimes. -- AD
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