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[av_heading heading=’Heads will roll over illegal gambling – Negros top cop’ tag=’h3′ style=’blockquote modern-quote’ size=” subheading_active=’subheading_below’ subheading_size=’15’ padding=’10’ color=” custom_font=”]
BY MAE SINGUAY
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Thursday, April 27, 2017
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BACOLOD City – Chiefs of police in Negros Island Region will be relieved from their posts if illegal gambling continues to exist in their areas of responsibility, the regional police director warned.
Chief Superintendent Renato Gumban stressed that he ordered all units under the Police Regional Office 18 (PRO-18) to aggressively run after illegal gambling operators and players in March yet.
Only two companies are authorized by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office to operate Small Town Lottery in the region — Super Lucky Beagler, Inc. in Negros Occidental and Five Star in Negros Oriental.
Operations not under these companies are illegal, stressed Gumban.
Police station leaders in local governments where illegal gambling is reported and confirmed will be immediately sacked, he said.
Gumban is putting pressure on his subordinates in light of reports that some police officers are allegedly protecting illegal gambling.
The PRO-18 director himself is one of the police officials named in a “white paper” accusing law enforcers of the wrongdoing.
Task Force Crusaders deputy national commander John Chiong said he received the handwritten “white paper” in his mail.
Gumban said they received information that illegal gambling operators long believed to have stopped changed their names to avoid detection by the police and continue to get funding from the same financiers.
He also said he directed Senior Superintendent Jack Wanky, Bacolod City police head, to catch everyone involved in illegal gambling after receiving a text message accusing the police of being selective in the crackdown.
The PRO-18 has identified several illegal gambling financiers: “Mellama,” also known as “Tolekoy”; “Noli Yap”; and “Mustang.”
Gumban said they learned that Yap and Mustang already stopped, while Mellama is also linked to the slain suspected Iloilo drug lord Melvin “Boyet” Odicta Sr.
Meanwhile Gumban denied the allegations that he is protecting or involved in illegal gambling in Negros Occidental.
He believes the ones peddling such claims have operated illegal gambling in the past and were derailed by the police. He noted that the PRO-18 has accomplished “a lot” against the crime since he took office.
Chiong said the Philippine National Police national headquarters is now looking into the allegations made in the “white paper.”/PN
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