Sunday, October 22, 2006 18 machines to rescue Ermita’s image?
EIGHTEEN more units to locate and Ermita, Cebu City will be “video carrera-free,” said Barangay Captain Felicisimo Rupinta.
Tagged as an illegal drugs and gambling haven, Ermita needs to find the machines in Sitios Bato and Warwick Barracks so it can clean up its reputation, at least on the gambling part.
In a general assembly yesterday, Rupinta promised that with the residents’ help, he will find where the remaining video carreras are kept before the year ends.
He said that an estimated 372 video carrera and mole-mole machines were reported to be in the barangay last year, but police saturation drives reduced the number to only 18.
He said the police and tanods should also run after mahjong, an illegal card game that bettors use as video carrera alternative.
“Bisan ug naa sa dalan naay nag tong-its, naay nag mahjong. Kinahanglang dakopon na sila kay illegal gihapon ilang gibuhat (Even by the roadside people play tong-its and mahjong. They are also illegal games that must be stopped),” he said in the open forum.
SPO4 Ervin Wenceslao of Carbon Police Station and a Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) representative were present in the 1 p.m. assembly at the barangay’s sports complex.
Peace and order was also among the concerns raised in the gathering.
Rupinta admitted they should have built an outpost near Manalili and Lincoln Sts., which are crime-prone areas, but business establishments there refused to spare a space for the structure.
To offset that, tanods conduct a 24-hour roving patrol in the two streets.
Rupinta likewise reported that F. Gonzales St., where snatching and pickpocket incidents are high, is now “off-limits” to thieves and robbers.
“Kutob sa kawatan ug snatcher nga motunob dihang lugara, tumba (Thieves and snatchers who stray there get nailed),” he said, citing as an example the shooting to death of a thief and the wounding of another in the place last month.
He asked the vendors for help, saying the police and tanods cannot catch all the criminals by themselves, considering that Carbon market is packed with people most of the time and is too large to secure 24 hours a day.
He said that in the 1980s, when he was the ambulant vendors’ president, they risked their lives by pursuing criminals and turning them over to the police.
“Hain naman tawon mo? Tabang sab mo dili kay magsiga lang inyong mata nga mag tan-aw anang kawatan nga mo-agi sa inyong atubangan (Do something instead of just staring at thieves passing in front of you),” he said. (AIV)
