Police arrest man for masiao betting sheets

CEBU – Compostela policemen arrested a man selling betting slips for an illegal numbers game inside the cemetery last Saturday evening.

While people were flocking to the public cemetery in barangay Cogon to pay respects to the dead, a certain Benjie Cabrera, 33, of barangay Baluang, Compostela town, was also busy with his business, the illegal numbers game, locally known as masiao.

Cabrera was caught in the act of selling betting slips by Compostela police who were conducting a patrol inside the cemetery.

SPO4 Socrates Medillo and SPO1 Enrique Losbaños recovered from Cabrera eight pieces of paper with different number combinations and betting slips.

Cabrera tried to run but was held in place by one of the policemen.

He is currently detained at the Compostela police station and awaiting the filing of charges for violation of the Republic Act 9287 or the Act Increasing the Penalties for Illegal Numbers Games which amended certain provisions of Presidential Decree 1602.

Cabrera was categorized as an usher or one who gathers the bets of number combinations from clients.

He submits the bets and the numbers to a coordinator who in turn remits these to a financier.

In between are persons who transport the bets to the following persons, called a runner.

Last week a barangay captain of Argao town, a suspected coordinator, was caught with six other men and women in the act of tallying the bets of bettors allegedly from the whole town in a rented stall at Argao Public Market.

Charges were filed against them while they expressed dismay over alleged harassment made by a member of the raiding team, who reportedly asked for money in exchange for a possible negotiation. – Ferliza C. Contratista/BRP (THE FREEMAN)