By Jennifer P. Rendon
When the Philippine National Police announced that it would go hard against illegal gambling, it meant all forms.
Thus, Police Brigadier General Rene Pamuspusan, Western Visayas police chief, said that even mahjong, bug-oy and tong-its games, the usual past time games among people in the region, are also part of their crackdown.
Bug-oy is a game that is similar to cara y cruz or tumbo, only that it uses shells (sigay). Tong-its is a Filipino card game.
While some may regard these games as petty illegal gambling, “our intent is to go after illegal gambling that our policemen are extending their efforts already to makes arrests.”
As far as PNP Regional Intelligence Division (RID) is concerned, Pamuspusan said that there is no organized gambling rackets in the region.
“In fact, the RID has extended their operations to Negros Occidental and other provinces which have not reported to have illegal gambling activities,” he said.
Aside from tong-its and bug-oy, other arrests also include players of pusoy and cara y cruz, or locally known as tumbo.
“These operations are to show the public that we don’t spare anyone… that our officers are not on the take,” he said.
As this developed, the Police Regional Office 6 (PRO-6) still has yet to receive the list of illegal gambling operators in Western Visayas.
“We have personalities that are included in the watch list but there is no solid evidence that has been established yet,” he said.
Pamuspusan earlier pointed to former police officers, politicians, and just plain wealth individuals who could afford to shell out money for an illegal game operation.
