SELF-CONFESSED drug personalities and foot soldiers of illegal gambling operators will soon find themselves with legal and fruitful work if Cagayan de Oro City Councilor Romeo Calizo will have his way.
Calizo said the local legislature will be crafting an anti-poverty program that will include those who are no longer engaged in illegal activities such as selling methamphetamine hydrochloride, locally known as “shabu,” or working in an illicit gambling operation.
With the police’s anti-illegal gambling campaign in full swing, Calizo said the loss of livelihood of bet collectors and other foot soldiers of gambling lords must also be addressed.
Through an anti-poverty program, he said the City Government can look for ways to augment its assistance to the people whose livelihood have been affected by the Duterte administration’s crackdown on illegal drugs and illegal gambling.
Calizo said the soon to be program will give hope to people involved in illegal gambling and drug trading to leave the illicit activities behind them and start a fresh.
Although he could not yet give details of the proposed legislation, Calizo said that before crafting the program, the City Council must first study the success stories of local government units in other parts of the country which have been effective in implementing their anti-poverty initiatives so Cagayan de Oro can emulate their best practices.
One example is the livelihood assistance program of the Bukidnon provincial government put in place by Governor Jose Maria Zubiri Jr. that released more than P800,000 to former drug pushers as start-up for their enterprise of choice.
He noted that the illegal gambling operations in the city has waned in the past few days, but said it’s not enough as only those on the lower ranks have been apprehended.
Calizo said authorities must go after the big-time illegal gambling financiers to ensure the police efforts were effective in their campaign.
For its part, the regional police had reported initial success in its war against illegal gambling.
In less than a month, about 109 persons, mostly collectors, had been arrested and more than half a million pesos in bet money seized during a series of operations conducted all over the region.
Constantino said for the Philippine National Police (PNP)-Northern Mindanao not to lose focus on its anti-drug campaign, he ordered unit commanders on the ground to assign a portion of their police force to illegal gambling.
During the launch of the anti-illegal gambling campaign, Constantino was quoted as saying he will not wait for the directive from PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa, “but we will start now and gradually with increasing intensity launch our all-out campaign against illegal gambling in Northern Mindanao.”
PNP-Northern Mindanao spokesperson Surki Sereñas said the assistance of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO)-accredited lotto outlets will make it easier for the police to go after the illegal gambling operators, but acknowledged that they have only arrested the workers and not the financiers.
“Usually these illegal gambling financiers are not around. They only hire people to do the work for them,” he said, adding it’s not easy to establish the connection of suspected financiers to the illegal lotto operations.
Among the five provinces in Northern Mindanao, Sereñas said Misamis Oriental and Cagayan de Oro have the most number of swertres operators, while Camiguin has the least.