Minors gamble and pay "tong" so as not to be arrested

YOUNG GAMBLERS. About 10 boys (all minors) were seen gambling (hantak) behind some tombs in a cemetery. A bearded man came and the boys were quick to give him coins in different amounts. After the man left, the boys told a cemetery visitor the man was a “tong” collector for a certain barangay tanod. “Kada duwa namo dinhi motunga nang bungoton unya mangayo og ‘tong’.” one boy said. “Gisugo lang kuno siya sa tanod aron di mi dakpon.”

MAHJONG DURING A WAKE. A reader wants to know if the mahjong sessions during a wake are not “illegal gambling.” He said he has been to many wakes for dead relatives and friends and in each wake there was mahjong played on from two to three tables. “Large sums of money changed hands,” he says. “Sometimes policemen in civvies would take part.” “Tungod ba sa pagrespetar sa namatay nga kining sugal nga mahjong gitugot atol sa haya?’’ the reader asks.