Jueteng operations in Baguio City allegedly hiding under the cloak of legalized bingo met a big stumbling block last week when Cordillera policemen simultaneously raided “gambling dens” including a barangay (village) hall.
BY ACE ALEGRE
Contributed to Bulatlat.com
BAGUIO CITY (246 kms. north of Manila) –Jueteng operations in the city allegedly hiding under the cloak of legalized bingo met a big stumbling block last week when Cordillera policemen simultaneously raided “gambling dens” including a barangay (village) hall.
At least 49 allegedjueteng kubradores (bet collectors) and revisadores(checkers) were hauled to Camp Dangwa in La Trinidad, Benguet to face violations of anti-gambling laws as Cordillera police intelligence and investigation division chief S/Supt. Ulysses Abellera insisted that the “Bingo sa Barangay” operation in the city and adjacent towns here is actually jueteng.
“We have confirmed reports that it is jueteng and not bingo,” Abellera told reporters after the raid. “The Cordillera police have been receiving negative feedback on the bingo-teng operations, and after several months of verification, we found out that it was actually jueteng.”
Two weeks before, a local court declared the Bingo sa Barangay operated by the Association of Barangay Council (ABC) as legal in the midst of criticisms that such operation wasjueteng masquerading as bingo raffle draws, the proceeds of which were supposed to fund barangay development projects. Its promoters led by ABC head Rufino Panagan who sits in the City Council, and Trancoville barangay chairman Albert Della had been insisting that it is perfectly legal as they are invoking the right of barangays to generate funds in accordance with their “fiscal autonomy.”
At least P50,000 ($1,012.86 at an exchange rate of $1=P 49.365) worth of bets in various denominations and bingo-teng parapharnelia were brought as evidences against the 47 arrested bingo-teng employees. The items also included papelitos (betting receipts) very similar to those used in jueteng operations and cards where the numbers of the three-draw-a-day operations were indicated.
Abellera, who is also a lawyer, insists that what the court declared legal was bingo and not jueteng. But the operators were drawing only two numbers, he said.
Abellera however did not say if they will go after operators of the bingo-teng, even as one of the two alleged dens raided on Thursday was the Trancoville Barangay Hall.
Lawyer Edgar Avila, defending the bingo-teng operations, told reporters that they would file illegal arrest, contempt of court and robbery raps against the policemen this week. (Bulatlat.com)
