By Alex P. Vidal
“Without gambling, I would not exist.” – Hunter S. Thompson
NO Philippine National Police (PNP) chief in the history has succeeded in totally eliminating illegal gambling operations in the country.
But almost every PNP chief who served the country had made a loud public outcry against illegal gambling and vowed to wipe it out during their stewardship.
And we know they all failed.
Thus PNP chief Police General Archie Franciso Gamboa’s latest agitation against illegal gambling operations wasn’t news anymore.
It won’t even be news if he will also fail.
What’s news is his threat to lower the boom on PNP regional directors who can’t stop the numbers game operations in their respective jurisdictions for one week.
It’s news because the task of totally stamping out illegal gambling operations has always been a tall order; it’s almost incredible, unachievable, and downright impossible.
For one week?
Only Superman can do that.
Gamboa’s regional directors aren’t even superheroes.
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On Saturday (February 22), Gamboa boomed: “I have forwarded to you list of operators in your different regions. I’m giving you a week.”
Meaning that after one week, heads will roll; or regional directors who can’t curb illegal gambling operations in their areas of responsibility would be relieved.
Another problem for Gamboa is his reminder to all police officers “not to accept bribes from operators of illegal gambling.”
It’s like telling off-duty sailors not to enter inside the nightclubs in a port where their ships had docked.
We all know that many cops are in the payroll of illegal gambling operators since time immemorial.
Some cops have even ended up as bodyguards of gambling lords when they went AWOL (absent without official leave) and after their retirement.
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Not all of the PNP’s 191,000 personnel are immaculate.
We still believe though that the majority are dedicated and honest.
If they weren’t protectors of illegal drugs, some cops were in cahoots with illegal gambling lords, and this reality has been a public knowledge even before the integration of the Philippine Constabulary (August 18, 1901-January 29, 1991) and the Integrated National Police (August 7, 1975-January 29, 1991).
Pressuring the regional directors to stop illegal gambling operations will never yield positive results in as far as the government’s campaign against illegal gambling is concerned.
Gambling operators who don’t want corrupt PNP regional directors to be axed might “cooperate” for the time being and stop their operations temporarily in order to please Gamboa and to protect these corrupt regional directors, but after several weeks or months, it will be “business as usual” or “back to business.”
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Even Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) chief, Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan has acknowledged the presence of bookies or illegal numbers game operations in many parts of Western Visayas.
He lamented that “apparently, there are really individuals who keep on insisting on doing something illegal.”
But even Pamuspusan probably feels that stopping these bookies operations isn’t a joke.
These operators, who have been organized clandestinely for a long period of time, also operate like syndicates.
They also have their own intelligence network and they are well-entrenched, well-oiled, and well-protected.
(The author, who is now based in New York City, used to be the editor of two local dailies in Iloilo)
