City police: No jueteng in Cebu

There is no jueteng in Cebu.

This was the statement of Cebu City Police Office acting director Melvin Gayotin, who clarified that the house raided for operating a gambling den in sitio Epra in barangay Guadalupe last Saturday was operating another illegal numbers game called "lo-go", which only has some similarities to jueteng.

"Lo-go", according to Vice Control Section chief, Senior Inspector George Ylanan, is a small-scale illegal numbers game usually operated by a few people with only their close relatives and neighbors as bettors to two- number combinations.

Ylanan admitted that "lo-go" is closely similar to jueteng, which is very popular in Luzon, but added that "lo-go", unlike jueteng, uses crude tools to draw the winning number combination.

There is also a big difference in the money involved and the area of operations because "lo-go" is usually confined to sitios and small neighborhoods, either to avoid detection or because of lack of funds.

Ylanan said that jueteng operations are more centralized since there is only one source for the winning numbers and the game involves millions of pesos in bets.

He added that because jueteng is centralized and covers a large area for its operation, an operator needs internet-ready computers and fax machines similar to those confiscated in Luzon raids.

These modern tools, he said, are used to send communications and results to local coordinators and collectors.

The Guadalupe police led by station chief Senior Inspector Catalino Nacario raided a house owned by Cristita Campomanes in sitio Epra last Saturday for operating a gambling den that draws winning number combinations similar to how jueteng is done.

The raid was done by virtue of a search warrant issued by Municipal Trial Courts in Cities Judge Gil Acosta.

Six persons, all of whom are residents of the area, were arrested and these were Jose Abarrientos, 57, Alfredo Gabutan, 33, Ferdinand Campo,40, Allan Fernandez,22, and two sons of Campomanes named Jeffrey Campomanes,20 and Jake,22.

Police, however, failed to arrest Cristita Campomanes and a certain Aries Abarrientos.

Policemen confiscated a calculator, a pad of yellow paper, two bundles of paper stubs, 12 brown envelopes, one bottle, one stamp pad, one bottle of ink, stapler, staple wires, two pieces of number band stamp, ball pens, one table and tally sheets. - Edwin Ian Melecio/QSB