Mini-casinos operating in Baguio untouched?

BAGUIO CITY – Mini-casinos are operating in the city reportedly right under the noses of local officials and the police.

One reportedly operated by a certain “Patrick,” a former businessman who got entangled in the courts as the reported brains in kidnapping a wealthy Chinese business scion in the city four years ago, is described as a mini-casino in one of the floors in an old hotel on Dagohoy street.

The said mini-casino, which was raided by agents of the National Bureau of Investigation and the city’s anti-vice task force then headed by pastor cum city councilor Galo Weygan several months ago, is just a stones-throw away from a police precinct along Magsaysay Avenue here.

Last year, authorities also raided another gambling den reportedly being operated secretly by “Patrick” in a building near a local radio station here after residents kept on reporting its operations.

Baguio police director Senior Superintendent Moises Guevarra and police spokesman Senior Police Officer 1 Virgilio Hidalgo vowed they will check on it.

Baguio City Mayor Reinaldo Bautista Jr. also vowed to verify the existence of the said mini-casino through the city police and the Public Order and Safety Division (POSD) which is the direct agency under the mayor’s office conducting drives versus illegal gambling.

Baguio City Council’s public order and safety committee chairman Nicasio Aliping also said he will verify such operations with the city police.

Another mini-casino is also reportedly being run at a pivate room inside one of the posh private developer-run tourist facilities in the city where even city officials and former officials frequent to play poker and other card games.

Unnoticed even more by authorities here are alleged “poker games” by known and wealthy personalities in Baguio and Benguet.  These poker games, however, claimed a reliable source, are played with other high-stakes card games on the side.

One of the poker game players, who begged off not to be named, however, said that poker is not gambling. “It is a sport allowed by the PAGCOR,” he said.  “It is a game of skill,” the poker player said.

Poker players in the city are reportedly honing their skills towards national competitions in Manila and elsewhere.

The poker games reportedly being led by a prominent personality in Baguio and Benguet are played in different “secret” spots in the city, different from shortlived games run at a night spot operated by another young businessman west of the city several months ago that has a permanent venue.

A full-blown casino operation by a Manila investor was junked here several years ago after residents backep up by the Catholic and non-Catholic churches and religious groups opposed it.