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Tuesday, July 15, 2003
Uncoordinated jueteng raid nearly ends in shootout
By Ernie N. Olson Jr.
THE uncoordinated raid on a suspected jueteng safe house by a team from the Department of the Interior & Local Government's (DILG) Special Operations Group Jericho nearly turned into a shootout with the Baguio police inside a subdivision along Marcos Highway early Sunday afternoon.
The Baguio City Police Office did not know anything about the supposed raid because SOG-Jericho agents did not coordinate with them.
Supt. Francisco Manalo, BCPO director, said on Monday that they did not know that the men earlier reported as robbers were SOG-Jericho agents conducting a raid.
"According to reports reaching me, personnel from Station 5 were called to respond to a reported armed robbery attempt because several armed men in civilian clothes were seen approaching and surrounding some houses along Marcos Highway. It turned out later that these armed men were Jericho personnel at kamuntik na talaga sila nagkadisgrasyahan," Manalo said.
Although official reports from the BCPO Station 5 said that only P106, 300 in alleged bets collections were seized along with an assortment of jueteng paraphernalia, sources claimed that almost P1-million was allegedly seized by plainclothes personnel of the DILG-SOG Jericho, along with a number of cellular telephone units and assorted jewelry.
"The 50 suspects arrested by Jericho personnel were only turned over to us afterwards for disposition," Senior Insp. Freddie Lazona, Station 5 chief, added in a cellphone interview Monday afternoon.
Lazona reported that only four of the 50 suspects were arrested by a team led by Chief Insp. Segundino Adaliga inside 5-F Santo Niņo Subdivision at around 2:00 p.m. of July 13.
Reportedly seized from them then were cash bets amounting to P70, 250 in various denominations, 14 bundles of yellow-colored papelitos or lists of number combinations with corresponding amounts of bets, five sets of jueteng numbers, one orange-colored bolilyo and five red ballpens.
Some 46 other suspects were also reportedly arrested at nearby 10 Santo Niņo Subdivision, along with the seizure of P36, 050 in cash bets, 17 bundles of yellow papelitos, eight bundles of brown papelitos, a Casio MS-8T calculator, a pair of scissors, five red ballpens, five pads of petty cash vouchers, one blue bolilyo containing a set of numbers and a fishnet bag.
All suspects were reportedly detained at the Baguio City Jail after their arrest on charges for their alleged violation of Presidential Decree 1602.
However, a reliable source disputed the accuracy in the number of confiscated jueteng bet collections, as declared by Jericho personnel, adding that the latter also allegedly took their personal belongings like jewelries and cash, as well as an undetermined number of cellphones during the raid.
"May mga kasama pa silang mga istambay ng mga bilyaran sa Lakandula nung nag-raid sila sa mga safehouse namin," this source added.
(July 15, 2003 issue)
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