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Friday, August 23, 2002
2 raids spell end for Angan? Tom to fight
By Garry Cabotaje/Charmaine Y. Rodriguez
Minerva B. Gerodias/Gingging R. Aledo
WERE the two anti-gambling raids conducted by Task Force Jericho, the anti-gambling arm of the DILG, already considered “strike two” against Acting CCPO Chief Josephus Angan?
Acting Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 Roberto Desamito does not think so, while Chief Insp. Verlito Paredes, the task force team leader, said he will leave it up to the National Police Commission (Napolcom) to make the evaluation.
This as Mayor Tomas Os-meña refused to comment on the relief of former acting PRO 7 chief Alejandro Lapinid, but vowed to object to moves to transfer Acting Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) Director Josephus Angan.
And with the recent joint operation on a suspected printer of masiao tip sheets, Osmeña ordered the closure and revocation of all permits of all firms caught printing the illegal tip sheets in Cebu City.
Angan, for his part, said the arrest of Roberto Edillo and the task force’s operations against Wakee Salud do not mean they are sitting on the job, as they also have accomplishments in the campaign against illegal gambling.
Angan said they have arrested six coordinators in three weeks.
But when asked by PRO 7 why they failed to arrest the “big fish,” Angan said his explanation will be based on their accomplishments.
As to the recent anti-gambling raids, Desamito, concurrent PRO 7 deputy regional director for operations, said he still considered it a joint police operation with the PNP here because operatives of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) 7 were part of the raiding team.
Desamito described the CIDG 7 as an operational support unit of PRO 7. Like syndicated crimes and illegal drugs, the anti-gambling campaign is the prime mandate of the CIDG, he said.
The task force and CIDG 7 raided the gambling safehouse of boxing promoter Rex “Wakee” Salud and the printing press of businessman Roberto Edillo, owner of Roedil’s Enterprises and Printing Press.
“Why are they pinpointing it to somebody else when it’s their job? I don’t think it is strike two because it was a joint operation,” Desamito said.
Senior Supt. Lani-o Nerez, PRO 7 operations chief, refused to say whether or not it was already a strike two for CCPO.
The PRO 7 has issued several directives to the lower police units to intensify the drive against gambling even during the stint of then PRO 7 chief Avelino Razon Jr., said Nerez, a former CCPO chief.
Razon’s successor, former acting PRO 7 Chief Alejandro Lapinid, also gave police field commanders in Central Visayas until Aug. 19 to submit the results of their anti-gambling drive.
For his part, Paredes said the task force won’t mind counting the number of illegal gambling raids as they will only submit a report to Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Jose Lina.
In turn, the Napolcom anti-gambling commission will evaluate the task force report and decide whether to sack local police officials in key posts.
The Napolcom, where Lina also sits as chairman, has an existing “strike-three-you’re-out” policy for policemen who have done nothing to curb illegal gambling activities in their areas.
Yesterday, the task force again conducted two simultaneous raids on video carrera machines in Barangay Mambaling, Cebu City and Naga, Cebu.
Since the task force operatives arrived in Cebu last week, they have already seized 30 video carrera units in Cebu City and Cebu Province.
In comparison, CCPO has arrested 31 persons for masiao and 10 persons for video carreras, and confiscated 38 video carrera machines since Angan assumed his post.
Amid these developments, Osmeña said he is “a little wary” of the possibility that Angan will be affected by another revamp in the PNP.
“I will object to it at this time, especially if there’s no consultation,” the mayor told reporters yesterday.
Osmeña also reserved criticisms on Angan’s performance and attributed peace and order problems to other factors.
“I will not consider it a failure. The past several weeks, we were not focusing on video carrera as much as we would like to. I’m putting emphasis on some other crimes such as robbery,” he said.
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