27 arrested in Central Luzon jueteng raids

The anti-gambling Task Force Jericho swooped down on jueteng dens in Pampanga, Nueva Ecija and Bataan in the past two days, arresting at least 27 people and confiscating P15,165 in cash bets.

Chief Superintendent Manuel Cabigon, task force head, admitted that the illegal numbers game continues to thrive in Central Luzon but its financiers now resort to "guerrilla-style" operations.

"The gambling lords are trying their very best to keep their operations a secret by jumping from one place to another," he said.

"But the good thing is that the public is cooperating by reporting their safehouses to us that’s why we are able to conduct successful raids," he added.

Task force agents, led by Senior Inspector Jesus Kabigting, first raided a jueteng den in Barangay San Roque in Guagua, Pampanga last Thursday and caught six people in the act of drawing the day’s winning number combinations. Cash bets amounting to P3,000 were seized from them.

Kabigting’s team motored yesterday to Nueva Ecija and arrested 11 other jueteng personnel in Barangay Sto. Cristo, San Antonio town. The raiders confiscated P10,125 in cash bets and gambling paraphernalia.

Ten jueteng workers were also nabbed in another raid yesterday in Barangay San Pedro in Hermosa, Bataan.

In a report to Interior and Local Government Secretary, Cabigon identified three suspected jueteng financiers as well as the mayors, police chiefs and barangay heads who have jurisdiction over the raided gambling dens.

Cabigon said the anti-jueteng campaign will continue without let-up.