Querol orders relief of precinct chief

Metro police chief Director Vidal Querol ordered yesterday the relief of a precinct commander in Quezon City following the arrest of four jueteng bet collectors in the officer’s jurisdiction.

Querol directed Chief Superintendent Nicasio Radovan, director of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD, to relieve Inspector Joseph de Vera of PCP 4 of Police Station 10 for being remiss in the campaign against illegal gambling.

"We should remain steadfast in our campaign against jueteng," said Querol as he warned police officials not to allow the illegal numbers game to flourish anew in Metro Manila.

Joint elements of the QCPD and National Capitol Region Police Office (NCRPO), headed by Superintendent Sotero Ramos, swooped down at a suspected jueteng den located on V. Luna in Barangay Pinahan at 10:30 a.m. yesterday and arrested suspects Armando Cruz, 53; Ernesto Vegilla, 39; Criselfa Manapote, 42, and Annie de la Cruz, 42.

Confiscated from them were lists of bets, a calculator and bet collections.

In his report to Querol, Ramos, head of the Regional Intelligence and Special Operations Office (RISOO), said the suspects had been hopping from one house to another to evade detection and arrest.

"The Quezon City police were also hot on their trail so we decided to jointly work for the jueteng den’s neutralization," Ramos told The Star.

De Vera would be the second precinct commander to be sacked for failure to curb jueteng in their areas of responsibility.

Two months ago, a precinct commander in Makati City was also sacked following the arrest of four jueteng bet collectors in his area.