WORLD-renowned boxer, Saranggani Representative Manny Pacquiao, was once interested to operate ‘bingo’ in Bacolod, said city Mayor Evelio Leonardia.
Leonardia, Pacquiao’s best friend, said Boy Jalandoni applied for the operation of bingo instead, after Pacquiao lost his interest. Bacolod City lone district Representative Monico Puentevella and his sons were also very interested in operating bingo in the city. The bingo operation then became controversial and a source of conflict. Leonardia did not object Jalandoni’s application. The Puentevellas meanwhile secured a permit from Pagcor and opened their own bingo business at Shoemart, which was ordered closed for not having the mayor’s permit. As far as operations of illegal numbers games are concerned, Leonardia also admitted there were personalities who approached him and lobbied for jai alai operation in the city, but he rejected them because there is no legal basis for its legal operation. The operators claimed that jai alai is legal. “I told them that they should show me the proof of jai alai’s legality,” the mayor said. “…Until I am convinced that it is legal, jai alai has no place in the city,” Leonardia added. Councilor El Cid Familiaran earlier said that an official of the City Government is allegedly engaging in jai alai. “If he has evidence, he can share it with us,” Leonardia said. (Carla N. Cañet) Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on September 30, 2010.
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HE proverbial net is closing in on DILG undersecretary Rico Puno. Slowly but surely, he is now being identified as Aquino's crony who is on the take in jueteng. When interviewed earlier, he confessed that he was approached by several gambling lords, through intermediaries, for him to go easy on their jueteng syndicates. The intermediaries, he says, are his close friends. Some are even his relatives.
When these intermediaries talked to him about the gambling syndicates "transaction," they must have told him who they were doing an errand for. Or he should have asked who their principals are. Now, he says he does not know any gambling lord or have met any of them. After admitting that his friends or relatives had transacted him, how can he not disclose who has sent them? The problem with most public officials is that they can tell a bare-faced lie without batting an eyelash. Besides, DILG Secretary Jessie Robredo wrote him and the former PNP Chief about the proliferation of jueteng under their watch, even identifying his close aide, a certain Togonon, as the one who collects for him. And Puno did not mind Robredo's letter, supposedly his chief in the DILG, because he considered it as "tsismis". And Aquino, a sworn enemy of "tong" and graft, did not fire Puno, or even just reprimand him. Why? Might he be on the take, too? ____0_____ In Bacolod City, practically every "istambay" know who the jueteng lords are. And Leonardia does not know it? Of course, he does not also know that two of his closest confidants are the financiers of Jai Alai in the city. Funny, isn't it? ____0_____ Of course, Leonardia does not also know that the P25 million perimeter road is the obligation of the contractor, as provided for in the contract he entered into. That is why he made Bacolod City shoulder the cost. Likewise, does not know that he bought his garbage dump for P350 per square meter when agricultural lands surrounding it can be had for as low as P150 per square meter. He does not also know that the land he bought at residential valuation was re-assessed only before the purchase and that lands north, south, east and west of it remain classified as agricultural. He does not also know that the City Hall has become a den of thieves under his watch. Come to think of it, what else does Leonardia not know? _____0_____ Councilor Elcid Familiaran's idea to increase the penalty for Jai Alai bet collectors in order to discourage its financiers from bailing them out once apprehended is what they call in Tagalog "suntok sa buwan". If the bail becomes prohibitive, financiers will simply recruit other bet collectors and leave the apprehended collector to his own devices. The penalty for drug pushers, for instance, is quite severe yet drug pushers multiply like mosquitoes. What is needed is a no-nonsense pursuit of drug lords like what Mayor Lim did to Pepe Oyson. Of course, the drug trade is still rampant in Manila as elsewhere, but if drug lords are executed one after the other, and not just selectively, they would eventually become a vanishing tribe. It is said that source, a stream cannot rise above its source. So, eliminate the source and the stream will just dry up. Or better still, bring about a progressive, sufficiently earning citizenry, and no one will debase himself gathering bets. ____0_____ If Cong. Golez can set aside his myopic political view, there is absolutely no reason why he would disfavor the completion of the Heart, Lung and Kidney Center. First, because it is a long-felt need, and second, because it is politically beneficial to him. As it is, the Center is identified only with former congressman Puentevella, who secured its initial funding. But everybody knows that Monico's initial funding is exactly that-initial. In fact, the Center's greatest need, aside from the funds needed to complete its construction, are adequate equipment, and its operational requirements. This requires a much bigger outlay, which Golez can now make possible if he stops being narrow and parochial. Then the credit for the Center will not exclusively be Monico's but his too. And the citizens of Bacolod City, who are his constituents now, will be greater served in the process. Ely delos Santos Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper BACOLOD City Mayor Evelio Leonardia welcomed any government agency and even the public who are willing to help the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) address the proliferation of jai-alai in the city.
Earlier, the mayor did not endorse the proposal of Councilor El Cid Familiaran, requesting for the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) to help the city in its campaign against illegal gambling. "I did not necessarily endorse it but I did not object to it either," Leonardia said. He added it does not matter at all where the truth comes from, "if we are all after for the truth. I trust our police. If others will help us lead to the real truth, it will just be fine with me." Leonardia emphasized that he will not allow illegal gambling operation in the city. "This is a cat and mouse situation. When the cat is out, the mouse will play," he said. He reacted earlier when Bacolod City Police Office Director Celestino Guara declared publicly that there are eight jai-alai operators in the city. But when Leonardia confronted Guara, the BCPO chief clarified that those operators are not operating in the city but they just commission their bet collectors to operate in the city. Guara said BCPO has made numerous apprehensions against alleged jai-alai bet collectors. (Carla N. Cañet) Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on September 28, 2010. A tri-party agreement to authorize the assistance of motorcycle owners and riders in the anti-crime campaign had been firmed up, number one councilor, El Cid Familiaran, said in an interview with NNF over the weekend.
Familiaran, Chairman of the SPs Peace and Order Committee, said he, Bacolod Police Chief Senior Supt. Celestino Guara and Mayor Evelio Leonardia have agreed to set up an Anti-Crime Task Force, composed of motorcycle owner and riders who have committed to help in the campaign to curb petty crimes including akyat-bahay operations by criminals, robberies and hold-ups, snatchings and many other petty crimes which has gone on unabated and which have reared its ugly head with impunity. There have initially been 270 volunteers on wheels who are to carry out patrols during wee hours of the morning when everybody is asleep, said Familiaran. But the volunteers are to be supervised by a regular policeman. The volunteer will report cases of crimes with the policemen doing the apprehending. These volunteers will be provided Identification Cards, while orientation on what they are to do as crime fighters have been going on . Since they cannot be funded out of government funds, Familiaran said they are appealing to various sectors to provide assistance, more especially in the form of gasoline. With the cooperation of Bacolodnon, petty crimes can be licked in the long-term , said Familiaran, who has advanced the view that visibility of anti-crime fighters including policemen, are a major deterrent to crime activities. By Edgar Cadagat Negros Daily Bulletin COUNCILOR El Cid Familiaran opposed the proposal to impose taxes on the sale of second hand clothes (relief) or "ukay-ukay" through a resolution he forwarded to the City Council Wednesday.
Bureau of Customs Commissioner Angelito Alvarez earlier proposed to tax or levy the second hand clothes and/or similar goods that enter the country from overseas.The proposal is laudable as it will increase the country's revenue and consequently finance possible national and local projects, but there are other industries and goods that can be taxed to become potential source of more revenues for national and local coffers. He said taxing second hand goods or "ukay-ukay" and other similar goods will directly hit the masses who normally patronize it because they cannot afford to buy new and costly clothes. (Carla N. Cañet) THE National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) had assured Bacolod City Councilor El Cid Familiaran that they will help in the enforcement of laws against the illegal operation of jai alai in Bacolod City.
Bacolod City Police Director Celestino Guara, Jojo Fangco, Jr. of the NBI-Bacolod, Police Inspector Mamerto Topacio, CIDG-Bacolod, lawyer Vicente Petierre of the City Mayor's Office and Wilson Jover, representing Liga nga mga Barangay President Councilor Diosdado Valenzuela, attended the committee hearing called by Familiaran Tuesday. Guara told the committee chair that BCPO has no monopoly in responding to any crime. He even welcomed the action of Familiaran in asking CIDG and NBI to help in the campaign against illegal numbers game as this will intensify the campaign against illegal gambling. Petierre reiterated the position of Mayor Evelio Leonardia that illegal gambling has no place in the City of Bacolod. Jover also said that with the assistance of the barangay officials, the operators, bettors, and bet collectors can easily be apprehended. Familiaran said he will rest everything to the concerned enforcement agencies of the government. Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on September 22, 2010. EARLY this week, Bacolod City Mayor Evelio R. Leonardia expressed dismay with the way Bacolod City Police Office director Senior Supt. Celestino Guara is conducting the campaign against jai alai in Bacolod City.
Leonardia received information that Guara knows the eight jai alai operators in the city. However, the mayor wondered why the city police director did not take the steps to apprehend the operators. Moreover, Leonardia was also puzzled what the police chief is doing about the existence of jai alai operations in the city. The local chief executive has stressed numerous times that the illegal operation of jai alai does not have a place in Bacolod. Guara publicly announced earlier that there are eight jai alai operators in the city, based on the betting tipsters that are regularly circulating, namely the Dalisay, Speed, La Cesta, Buenas, Fronton, Neo Grande and two others. Meanwhile, city councilor El Cid Familiaran, Sangguniang Panlungsod chairman of the Committee on Police, Security and Jail Management, proposed a resolution requesting the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to apprehend jueteng, jai alai, masiao, daily double and all illegal gambling operations as well as their operators and financiers that operate in the city. The legislator believes that with the assistance of the CIDG and NBI, the illegal gambling operations will be addressed. From the period of July to September 14, Guara disclosed that the combined elements of BCPO and the Vice Squad Control Section have arrested 65 alleged jai alai bet collectors in the city, citing that since they started the campaign against this illegal gaming, 57 of the arrested bet collectors are facing charges before the city prosecutor’s office. The people of Bacolod, though not too impressed with the authority’s performance against jai alai, hope that the BCPO will show more teeth in running after the operators and financiers of these illegal gambling activities. Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on September 17, 2010. MAYOR Evelio Leonardia is pestered with Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) Director Celestino Guara's handling of the illegal operation of jai alai in the city.
The mayor has received reports about Guara knowing the eight jai alai operators in the city. "But why did he not take the steps to apprehend them? What is he doing about them now that he is aware of their existence in the city?" Leonardia reiterated that jai alai does not have a place in Bacolod and he wants the police to beef up campaigns against jai alai operators, bet collectors and bettors. Guara disclosed Monday that there are eight illegal jai alai operators in the city, operating in the barangays Dalisay, Speed, La Cesta, Buenas, Fronton, Neo Grande, and two others. Earlier, City Councilor El Cid Familiaran, City Council chairman of the committee on police, security and jail management, proposed a resolution to request the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to help the operation against jueting, jai alai, masiao, daily double, and all illegal gambling operators and financiers who operate in the city. "Jueteng, jai alai, masiao, daily double and other forms of illegal gambling are immoral and illegal. They are ills to our community," Familiaran said. He believes that with the assistance of the CIDG and NBI, the illegal gambling operations will be addressed.(Carla N. Cañet) Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper on September 16, 2010. THE City Council chairman of the committee on police, security and jail management will propose a resolution to request the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to apprehend illegal gambling operators and financiers operating in the Bacolod City.
Councilor El Cid Familiaran will ask Police Inspector Benjamin Topacio, OIC CIDG-Bacolod head, and lawyer Mamerto Cortez, NBI Bacolod chief, to help in apprehending jueteng, jai alai, masiao, and daily double operators. He believes that, with the assistance of the CIDG and NBI, the illegal gambling operations will be addressed. “Jueteng, jai alai, masiao, daily double and other forms of illegal gambling are immoral and illegal. They are ills to our community,” Familiaran said. Gambling distorts the values of people, especially the children, and it makes the people lazy and poorer, he added. Mayor Evelio Leonardia has also directed the Bacolod City Police Office (BCPO) to do their job in apprehending illegal gambling operators in Bacolod. Illegal gambling operations are secretly operating in most villages in Bacolod City. Councilor Homer Bais also asked BCPO Director Celestino Guara to provide them the list of those they apprehended because of “jai alai.” (Carla N. Canet) Published in the Sun.Star Bacolod newspaper Post your online prayers for Japan earthquake victims There are eight jai alai operators operating in Bacolod City and in neighboring towns and cities of Negros Occidental, City Police Director Senior Supt. Celestino Guara said yesterday.
Guara, who refused to identify the operators, said the jai alai bet runners arrested by the police revealed the names of the Bacolod-based businessmen involved. Although runners had linked the eight businessmen to jai alai operations, Guara said they could not just arrest them as they need concrete evidence associating them to the operations of the illegal numbers game. He said they are now conducting surveillance on several printing presses in Bacolod after receiving intelligence reports that these entities are printing tipsters for jai alai. “We will seek legal advice on how we can charge these printing presses if we prove that they are indeed manufacturing jai alai tipsters”, Guara said. Since July this year, BCPO Vice Control Section has already apprehended 65 collectors, and 57 of them have already been charged in court, police records showed. Guara said he will submit this report to the City Council after it passed a resolution last week asking the city police for the records on the numbers of person apprehended for jai alai. Guara also dismissed as hearsay the allegations of a traffic enforcer that they were forced by one of their supervisors to collect bets for jai alai from drivers they arrest in exchange for being charged with a lesser offense. If the allegations of the traffic enforcer are true, he should have come out and identified the supervisor so the police could verify his claims. Guara said he believes the traffic enforcer must have been relieved from service and was just making up stories to get even. Meanwhile, a resolution requesting the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, and the National Bureau of Investigation to apprehend jueteng, jai-alai and other illegal gambling “cabo” and operators or financiers operating in Bacolod City, is being proposed by Bacolod Councilor El Cid Familiaran. The proposed resolution said jueteng, jai-alai, masiao, daily double and other forms of illegal gambling are not only immoral but are also considered illegal under existing laws. These forms of illegal gambling distorts the values of people especially children and makes people lazy and poorer, among others, it said. There is a need for concerned authorities to prohibit and act against its operation because of the harm it poses to the public especially children and its ill effects to the society, the resolution said. While the Bacolod City Police Office personnel are campaigning against its operation, it would be helpful if the CIDG and NBI personnel or agents will conduct their own apprehensions or operations, it added.*APN/CGS BY ADRIAN NEMES & CHRYSEE SAMILLANO Visayan Daily Star |
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