Intensify anti-gambling drive, P’sinan cops told

DAGUPAN CITY — Police chiefs in Pangasinan were told to dedicate 25 percent of their men to the anti-gambling drive.

Senior Superintendent Mario Sandiego, provincial police director, issued this directive after a Church-initiated survey showed that jueteng is still rampant in at least 145 barangays here and in at least five towns.

Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz, who chairs the Krusada Laban sa Jueteng (Jueteng-Free Philippines), has submitted the results of the survey, the fourth since two years ago, to Sandiego and Gov. Victor Agbayani.

The survey, conducted from April to June, showed that jueteng was rampant in 40 out of 42 barangays in Malasiqui town, 30 barangays in Mangaldan, 27 in this city, 18 in San Fabian, and 15 each in Lingayen and Urbiztondo.

Towns like Bautista, Basista, Binmaley, Laoac, Manaoag, Mapandan, San Jacinto and Sta. Barbara and San Carlos City registered only three hot spots out of 14 barangays.

Areas that recorded zero jueteng activity were Bued Purok 1, Nalsian, Bacayao and Dinaloan Centro in Calasiao town, and Bayeng and Cayanga in San Fabian town.

Cruz said Dagupan City used to have moderate jueteng but it became rampant when the city’s police chief was removed from office.

Responding to the survey, Sandiego informed the archbishop that he has asked the police chiefs concerned to "validate" the findings.

"I gave instructions for them to reorganize their personnel and set aside a team preferably composed of dedicated police officers to operate against collectors and operators of illegal gambling," he said.

Superintendent Noli Taliño, Dagupan City police chief, said jueteng operators in the city "cannot organize" and resort to guerrilla tactics.

Early this week, Dagupan policemen swooped down on a jueteng den in Barangay Bonuan Gueset and caught four men in the act of counting bets amounting to P1,355 and sorting out jueteng papelitos.

Last Tuesday, two jueteng collectors were arrested in the city’s Malued district.

Chief Inspector Harris Fama, police chief of Mangaldan town, said that although his accomplishments were mainly on illegal drugs, his unit also recorded notable arrests of jueteng operators. — With Cesar Ramirez