THE Davao City Police Office (DCPO) formed the Anti-Illegal Gambling Task Force to strengthen operation against persons involved in illegal gambling.
This was revealed by DCPO spokesperson Senior Inspector Catherine dela Rey who said that they are still waiting for the Command Memorandum Circular (CMC) from the higher office of the Philippine National Police (PNP) that will guide them in the implementation.
"Bisan og wala pa ang CMC, padayon na kitang nanakop sa mga masinupakon sa illegal gambling subay sa atong war on illegal gambling (Even without the CMC, we had already been arresting illegal gamblers based on our war on illegal gambling campaign)," dela Rey said during the AFP-PNP press conference Wednesday at the Royal Mandaya Hotel.
Based on the records of the DCPO, 90 persons were arrested due to their involvement in illegal gambling just last year while there was only one who was arrested, January this year.
Dela Rey said she could not release yet the number of those who were arrested in the month of February. The Anti-Illegal Gambling Task Force was led by the Police Regional Office (PRO)-Davao while the city and provincial directors had also assigned team leaders.
In DCPO, Chief Inspector Reuben Libera headed the team under the supervision of DCPO Director Senior Superintendent Michael John Dubria.
Dela Rey added that TF Anti-illegal Gambling targets to serve 16 arrest warrants until February 18, 2017, to arrest 18 persons involved in illegal gambling and eight prevalent crime rate in various crimes relating to illegal gambling.
Just this February, DCPO had arrested not less than five persons involved in illegal gambling.