BAGUIO CITY – Anti-gambling advocates in the city slammed the Baguio City Police Office (BCPO), the city government and concerned government agencies for their inability to abate the proliferation of gambling dens in the city’s central business district considering that 4 bingo stations are serving as gambling dens as well.
Sources disclosed the sudden resumption of bingo stations in Slaughterhouse Compound, Rabbit sinkhole, Kaayng Hilltop and Otek St. is just being used to guise rampant gambling operations starting at the middle of the night until wee hours of the morning.
The sources added it is unfortunate that barangay officials are in cahoots with the bingo operators using their needs for closed circuit televisions (CCTVs) to raise funds but the bingo dens are actually being used for various kinds of illegal gambling such as drop ball, colored and card games among others even right in front of the noses of law enforcers.
Anti-gambling advocates challenged law enforcers to strengthen their intelligence buildup so that rampant gambling in the bingo dens considering that bingo is simply being used as front to cover up alleged clandestine operations of illegal gambling operators.
According to them, bingo and gambling operators reportedly took the chance of resuming their illegal operations when the issue of the controversial electronic bingo was at its height until they were in full blast operations without being stopped by concerned law enforcers.
Earlier, the operator of the bingo parlor at the Rabbit sinkhole was driven out after there were numerous recorded reports on the proliferation of gambling in the sites during the wee hours of the morning.
However, anti-gambling advocates are wondering why only one gambling den was stopped while the other gambling stations were allowed to operate, especially along Kayang Hilltop and Otek Street despite strict orders against the use of the areas for illegal gambling operations.
It was learned that gambling operators of Otek St. and Kayang Hilltop had been sending their own players to other bingo dens to document the conduct of illegal gambling operations and report the same to concerned authorities so that their establishments will be closed while they will be the ones to remain, thus, many considered the operators of Otek and Kayang Hilltop as untouchables.
By Dexter A. See
