Pangasinan, Dagupan police chiefs quit over jueteng

The police director of Pangasinan and the police chief of Dagupan City voluntarily quit their posts yesterday to pave the way for an investigation into their alleged failure to curb jueteng.

Chief Superintendent Arturo Lomibao, Ilocos police director, told The STAR that he accepted the resignations of Senior Superintendent Arturo Cacdac and Superintendent Noli Taliño, police chiefs of Pangasinan and Dagupan City, respectively.

"Despite earnest efforts to eradicate illegal gambling in the province, some gambling operators managed to continue with their illegal activities in some places," Lomibao said.

Despite their resignations, Cacdac and Taliño still need to explain why they failed to stamp out jueteng in their respective turfs, Lomibao said.

Interior and Local Government Secretary Jose Lina, concurrent chairman of the National Police Commission (Napolcom), also asked Superintendent Alejandro Valerio Jr. and Chief Inspector Harris Fama, police chiefs of San Carlos and Malasiqui, both in Pangasinan, to also submit their explanations within 72 hours.

Lina said the four police officials face administrative charges for serious neglect of duty for failing to rid their respective jurisdictions of jueteng.

Lina said the Napolcom’s action is based on Circular 2003-001, which stipulates sanctions against police officials in areas where successful anti-jueteng raids had been conducted.

Cacdac, a member of Philippine Military Academy Class 1978, and Taliño said they both requested for their "voluntary relief."

‘I can say… that we never have been remiss in all our duties as police officers, including our duty to implement laws against illegal gambling," Cacdac said, citing numerous anti-jueteng raids and arrests the Pangasinan police had made.

"We did our best in our fight against jueteng. We are hoping that we will be cleared," he added.

For his part, Taliño said, "It’s unfair for the Napolcom to investigate (us), considering that there are other ‘pressing problems’ in the province that need to be addressed such as safeguarding against terrorism and the proliferation of illegal drugs." — With Eva Visperas