Ifugao priest in crusade against illegal gambling

By  Dan B. Codamon

LAGAWE, Ifugao --Undaunted  despite the seeming non-cooperation of the people and the half-hearted determination of local authorities to curb the proliferation illegal gambling in this capital town, an Ifugao priest continues his crusade against this social vice and is winning ground.

           

Father Valentin Dimoc, Parish Priest of Lagawe and member of the Bontoc-Lagawe Vicariate of the Roman Catholic Church,  scored a victory  through his persistent determination in opposing illegal gambling in the community, when  he  stopped  the operation of several number games during the recently concluded municipal town fiesta celebration  called “Kulpi Ad Lagawe”.

           

Seeing  gambling  games   at the municipal ground in front of the municipal hall, Father Dimoc went to the town police station headed by Insp. Aquino Bayangan to report gambling activities such as ABC drop ball including “salisi” and requested their assistance to stop these operations.

           

Bayangan together with police personnel and the priest went to the area of the gambling operations but were told that operators were allegedly given permits by the municipal government to operate for the duration of the town fiesta and claimed they have paid some fees for their operations.

           

With no permits to show however allegedly since these were still  under process by the municipal government, Dimoc confronted some municipal officials about the alleged issuance of the permits and discovered that there were really none so the gambling activities were  stopped.

           

Fr. Dimoc started his crusade against gambling in Lagawe in 2009.

           

He said  many of those engaged in gambling were poor families and gambling was one of the root causes of broken families in Ifugao. He also shared his observation that during fiestas or social occasions, gambling was the prevalent event that most people were engaged in including children and youth.