Cop colonel probed on cockfight game

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga - Chief Superintendent Reynaldo Berroya, Central Luzon police director, said yesterday he would look into reports that this capital city’s police chief allegedly teamed up with a suspected gambling lord during a recent cockfight derby.

Although the police chief, Senior Superintendent Sonny Cunanan, was his wedding godson, Berroya gave assurance that the investigation will be impartial.

Cunanan earlier denied the reports that he had teamed up with suspected gambling lord Mario Garcia in a seven-cock derby sponsored by yet another suspected gambling lord, Melchor Caliwag alias Ngongo, at the Pampanga Coliseum.

Cunanan claimed that he merely watched the cockfight derby, saying he is an aficionado who raises fighting cocks himself.

During the derby, the police colonel and Garcia allegedly shared P500,000 of the P1-million "guaranteed prize" which Caliwag allegedly offered. The rest reportedly went to a cockfight aficionado from Isabela. — Ding Cervantes