Man shot over card game

MANILA, Philippines - Three brothers reportedly attacked a man who accused one of them of cheating in a card game in Barangay Tugatog, Malabon City at past midnight Saturday.

Amat Arcega was playing tong-its (a form of rummy) with 27-year-old Christian Austria and some friends when the victim accused Arcega of cheating and challenged him to a fistfight at around 1 a.m.

Amat went home but returned, with brothers Edjet and Eddie carrying swords, and shot Austria with an improvised shotgun, Police Officer 3 Jerry dela Torre said. The brothers fled after the attack and remain at large. Austria was treated at the President Diosdado Macapagal Memorial Medical Center.

Sources claimed illegal card games and the video karera slot machines are “very popular” in Barangay Tugatog and in other villages in Malabon, particularly in depressed areas.

They said these games of chance remain a “lucrative” source of income for unscrupulous police and village officials.