CEBU City Mayor Edgardo Labella has asked the Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) to investigate reports that a member of the CCPO advisory council is protecting illegal gambling operations in the city.
“The intelligence reports gathered also implicate a certain member of the CCPO advisory council. Should you validate this report during the conduct of your investigation, may I request that he be removed from the council to avoid any undue influence in the said investigation,” Labella said in a letter addressed to CCPO Director Gemma Vinluan.
Labella asked Vinluan for updates and status reports in the crackdown against illegal gambling operations in
Cebu City.
He said he received intelligence reports from several quarters, including the Barangay Intelligence Network and the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), that certain personalities are protecting the illegal gambling (swertres) operation in
Cebu City.
Labella expects a detailed and comprehensive report of the investigation within “reasonable period of time.”
“The resounding policy of my administration is to uphold the rule of law and it is a cause for concern that illegal gambling is being carried on in Cebu City,” he said.
The mayor ordered that all individuals and organizations engaged in illegal numbers game, including small town lottery (STL) outlets, must be “hunted down and prosecuted to the fullest extent under
the law.”
Former CCPO director Royina Garma launched a crackdown on illegal STL by intensifying the “no usher zone” campaign in June. She believed one of the reasons that the police have difficulty eliminating illegal gambling activities in the city is that some ushers, while working with legal STLs, are also doing business with other groups or individuals who finance their unlawful activities.
She said some ushers of the STLs and gaming corporations do not remit all their daily collections to their respective STL agents, compromising the STL’s operations.
“All the betting (activities) should be conducted in booths identified by the Peryahan and STL Sinsilyo. Those booths not identified by these two legal corporations are considered illegal,” she said in Cebuano.
Labella said Republic Act (RA) 9287, which increased penalties for illegal numbers games, must be implemented.
According to Section 3 of RA 9287, “Any person who participates in any illegal numbers game shall suffer the following penalties: a) The penalty of imprisonment from 30 days to 90 days, if such person acts as a bettor; b) The penalty of imprisonment from six years and one day to eight years, if such person acts as a personnel or staff of an illegal numbers game operation.” JJL