LEGAZPI CITY—Senior citizens in this city complained that the government drive against illegal drugs merely caused local drug traders to shift to illegal gambling, Arme Santos Tan, a graduate professor of Bicol University, said.
Tan said the elderly who gather regularly in a food and coffee house at the Gaisano Mall to discuss current issues lamented that children employed as jueteng bet collectors roam the barangays carrying pens and bet ‘papelitos’ but they are never seen carrying school bags.
Tan made this statement following the visit of Philippine National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa who said the PNP will wage war on illegal gambling after its campaign against narcotics.
The Manila Standard was unable to reach Albay Gov. Al Francis Bichara, but his spokesman Danny Garcia said the governor wants illegal gambling to be stopped since it does not contribute to the coffers of the capitol.
Illegal gambling such as jueteng is rampant in Albay and other Bicol provinces, so a press conference at Hotel Pepperland owned by Bichara on September 16 touched on Meredien Vista Gaming Corp., whose on-line operation called as ‘jai-teng that is similar to jueteng was granted by provincial resolutions.
Last year, a Daraga town policeman complained he was charged before the prosecutors office after arresting a jueteng bet collector who defended his work as Meredien bet collector using Meredien bet “papelitos.”
It would be recalled that Dagupan City Regional Trial Court Judge Florentino Dumlao Jr., issued on August 6 a four-page writ of preliminary injunction for Meredien Vista to cease and desist from operating jai-teng in Pangasinan. The court order was forwarded to PNP Camp Crame and the National Bureau of Investigation.
It was rumored in July that the new coordinator of the jueteng operation in Albay is a ranking capitol official who failed in his bid for the top position of the province.
The four candidates for Albay governor in the May elections are Paul Aguilar (Independent), Mar Bacuil (Independent), Jim Hernandez (Independent), and Al Francis Bichara (Nacionalista Party), who won.
The numbers game was introduced by Meredien on March 7, 2009 in Pangasinan and was expanded in other provinces such as Albay and other Bicol provinces.
On April 1, 2009, however, the Cagayan Export Processing Zone Authority (Ceza) ordered Meredien to cease and desist from operating their business game after the Office of the Government Corporate Council (OGCC) issued an opinion that it was illegal.
Meridien Vista, which is managed by Atong Ang, contested the OGCC order before the RTC in Aparri, Cagayan, which issued a writ of mandamus against the Ceza and claimed that the numbers game was being conducted outside Ceza, particularly in Pangasinan.
As a result of the Aparri mandamus against OGCC order, Meredien continued operating in many provinces including those in Bicol, in disregard of the Dagupan injunction.
Bicol PNP spokesperson Inspector Maria Luisa Calubaquib said the drive against illegal gambling resulted in the arrest of 349 persons and the filing of cases against 80 suspects from January to August 18 this year.
A petition has been filed by Anthony Ang-Angco, Alfie Soriano and Jose Millora that cited several grounds to prove Meridien’s operation was illegal. The petition referred to the Ceza order of April 1, 2009 that was based on the OGCC opinion. It mentioned that since no congressional law grants Meredien to operate gambling outside Ceza and that Meredien’s license has been revoked and not renewed, the Aparri court ordered a stop to its operation.