Cop nabbed for gambling

MANILA, Philippines — A police officer was arrested after he was reportedly caught gambling in a cockpit arena in Tayug, Pangasinan on Saturday.

The arrest of S/Sgt. Sherwin Salazar was based on a policy prohibiting government workers from engaging in gambling or frequenting gambling establishments.

Salazar was reportedly caught by undercover agents placing bets for an illegal cockfight activity or tupada at the JBC Cockpit Arena in Barangay Trenchera, according to Col. Ronald Lee, chief of the police’s Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group.

Aside from Salazar, the agents also arrested cockfight organizers Fiddie Castro and Florendo Mando.

The law only allows cockfighting in licensed cockpits during Sundays and holidays as well as fiestas, but not for more than three days.

“We’re intensifying our monitoring of police officers involved in all forms of illegal activities. We assure the public that we will apprehend them as soon as we have sufficient evidence against them,” Lee said.