Police chief promises to quit if gambling persists
Lito Rulona1 min read
By LITO RULONA
Correspondent
NEWLY installed police director for Misamis Oriental Manuel Alvarez on Monday promised the provincial board that he would resign as police chief if he fails to rid the province of illegal lottery operations by Aug. 3, 2016.
“I will resign if I fail to eradicate illegal gambling operations in the province” in one year, Senior Supt. Alvarez told the province’s legislature.
Alvarez said this as he and other police officials in the province faced the provincial board which looked into the drop in the revenues of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) in Misamis Oriental due to illegal gambling.
But Alvarez also said the PCSO also needed to review the state-sponsored lottery, and see why its system was breeding illegal gambling activities.
He also urged PCSO regional manager Raul Regondola to start coordinating with local police stations and tell authorities exactly where the illegal lotto outlets are, and start pressing charges.
Regondola said there were four illegal lotto outlets in Opol, two in El Salvador City, two in Alubijid, four in Tagoloan, one in Villanueva, seven in Jasaan, five in Gingoog, and four in Balingasag. He said these have cost PCSO some P100 million on revenues in Misamis Oriental alone in 2014.