‘Col. Martin, not I, was cockfight partner’

CITY OF SAN FERNANDO, Pampanga — This city’s beleaguered police chief claimed that it was a certain "Col. Martin," a police official from Pangasinan, who had teamed up with a suspected gambling lord during a recent cockfight derby sponsored here by yet another alleged jueteng financier.

Senior Superintendent Sonny Cunanan denied that he was the partner of alleged gambling lord Mario Garcia during the seven-cock derby at the Pampanga Coliseum, and that they shared a P500,000 "guaranteed prize" offered by organizer Melchor Caliwag, also a suspected jueteng lord.

Cunanan said he stayed at the coliseum for only half an hour, adding that he went there only to help Senior Superintendent Cris Laxa, chief of the regional Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, entertain his Japanese guest.

"I never fielded any cocks and never teamed up with Mario Garcia in that derby. We stayed there for about 30 minutes and then moved on to Saikai restaurant in Angeles City to have some drinks," he said.

He insisted that Garcia teamed up with one Col. Martin who, he claimed, is the provincial police director of Pangasinan.

But Senior Superintendent Arturo Cacdac, Pampanga police director, said Pangasinan’s police chief is Senior Superintendent Rodolfo Mendoza.

"I call him Boogie and I know him (Mendoza) well since he was my classmate," Cacdac said.

Told about this, Cunanan said he was sure Garcia’s partner was Col. Martin.

Cunanan said he could not afford the P25,000 entrance fee of the cockfight derby. "It was just too big for me," he said.