TWENTY-four people were arrested in two separate operations by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office and National Bureau of Investigation against Globaltech Mobile Online Corp.’s illegal “Peryahan ng Bayan” activity the other day in Negros Occidental.
Retired Marine Maj. Manuel Fraginal Sr., executive assistant VI of PCSO General Manager Alexander Balutan, said the joint operations were conducted on May 7 in the cities of Bacolod and Escalante.
“Out of 24, 13 persons came from Burgos-Lacson St., Bacolod City and the other 11 from a house in North Avenue, from Escalante City [bet collection station],” Fraginal said, also Chief of PCSO’s Nationwide Inter-Branch Security Monitoring.
The NBI team was led by lawyers Renoir Baldovino and Jose Gabriel Jr.
One of the arrested persons was Lito Estember, provincial coordinator, who had earlier reported to the local media that he filed criminal charges of grave coercion and alarm and scandal against Fraginal in his previous operation against his group.
“We also confiscated various illegal numbers games paraphernalia to include two draw court machines, cartons/boxes of bet slips/papelitos, and numerous office equipment to include desktop computers, two large air-conditioning sets, calculators, loud speaker boxes, water dispensers, tables and chairs,” Fraginal said.
Fraginal said the PCSO was able to get a court order from Executive Judge Cecilyn E. Burgos-Villabert of the Regional Trial Court , Branch 89, Quezon City, to conduct search and arrest against Globaltech’s illegal gambling operation.
The anti-illegal gambling operation in Bacolod was witnessed by Thelma Aguilar, a barangay kagawad of Barangay 19.
The joint PCSO-NBI team closed and padlocked Globaltech’s draw court and left behind the signage, “Establishment has been closed in violation of RA 9287.”