Top cop orders ‘iron hand’ vs jueteng
-A A +ATuesday, September 25, 2012
LA TRINIDAD, Benguet -- Philippine National Police (PNP) Director General Nicanor Bartolome Jr. wants jueteng (illegal numbers game) out of the highlands.
Bartolome ordered Cordillera police chief Benjamin Magalong to put a stop to reported operations jueteng in the region.
Bartolome issued the order after he awarded and honored Benguet policemen at the Tublay Municipal Station on last week.
Bartolome said, “I will not hesitate to impose punishments to any policemen found not implementing his directive on jueteng.”
The PNP has a long before imposed a One Strike Policy aimed to relieve any police chief of duty when other law enforcement unit manages to discover and conduct raids on gambling in jurisdiction.
Jueteng continues to proliferate in the region with high ranking officials both in the PNP and in government as alleged coddlers.
Recently, Senator Panfilo Lacson claimed a number of ranking police officers nationwide receive payola (protection money) from jueteng operators.
In the capital of Benguet, Karate Bakery in Pico village has been tagged as a gambling den with its owners and cohorts successfully eluding the law for years.
The bakery allegedly has been conducting gambling operations on and off for years now, stopping when there are tip offs of raids and returning periodically in different locations within the municipality.
Bartolome inspected newly purchased search and rescue equipment for highland cops, assuring preparedness in case of disaster.
Bartolome lauded Magalong for upgrading logistics as the Cordilleras has been prone to landslides and flash floods in past months pushing the police force to be in the forefront of search, rescue and retrieval operations.
In an effort of continually upgrade the police force Bartolome also commended Magalong in the move to purchase machines capable to reload ammunition for both long and short firearms.
Maglaong said the purchase of the reloader machine will also cut cost for ammunition “without the reloading machines, the PNP spends at least P19 per reloaded slug for short firearms. But with the machine, the PNP only spends P6.50 per reloaded slug for short firearms.”
The Cordillera police will now just spend P11 per reloaded slugs for long firearms compared to P25 per slugs if reloaded by private company.
Published in the Sun.Star Baguio newspaper on September 25, 2012.
Local news
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