The anti-scalawag unit of the Philippine National Police (PNP) arrested a police officer and three other for joining cockfighting in Cebu City.
According to PNP chief, Gen. Archie Gamboa on Monday, Integrity Monitoring and Enforcement Group (IMEG) chief, Brig. Gen. Ronald Lee said Staff Sgt. Charlito Sanchez Tinoy was arrested while betting on an illegal cockfighting event in Sudlon, Lahug, Cebu City, Sunday afternoon.
Lee added the police officer was previously arrested also for illegal gambling. Tinoy was assigned at the Regional Personnel Holding Accounting Section.
Authorities also caught three civilians Jojo Ombos Mainit, Frederick Jacalan Vosotros, and Lando Sabanal Calumba.
“We’re intensifying our monitoring of policemen involved in all forms of illegal activities and assure the public that we will apprehend them as soon as we have built enough evidence against them. We must make it clear that Gen. Gamboa has a strict zero-tolerance policy against police officers who continue to tarnish the good reputation and image of the majority of the police force,” Lee said in a media statement.
Undercover agents of the IMEG Visayas Field United and the Regional Special Operations Group Regional Intelligence Division, in cooperation with the Cebu Police Provincial Office, raided cockfighting games taking place in the area.
Individuals going inside the compound also violated safe physical distancing rules and did not wear face masks, which are blatant violations of quarantine protocols in the city.
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Cebu City is the only city in the Philippines that remained under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) due to the high number of COVID-19 cases.
Authorities recovered cockfighting paraphernalia, including gaffs, cash bets, and several fighting cocks from the area.
The police officer and the three civilians meanwhile were taken under the custody of the PNP-IMEG office in Visayas Field Unit for documentation and filing of criminal charges.
Lee urged the public to report the presence of the PNP personnel involved in any anomalies or illegal activities to the PNP IMEG Hotlines: SMART- 09989702286 or GLOBE- 09957952569. Information may also be forwarded to its Facebook Page: Integrity Monitoring Enforcement Group.
“There will be no respite in the crackdown against scalawags amid the enhanced community quarantine against Covid-19 (coronavirus disease 2019). We’re intensifying our monitoring of policemen involved in all forms of illegal activities and assure the public we will apprehend them as soon as we have enough evidence against them,” Lee said.
The Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) earlier announced cockfighting remains prohibited under the general community quarantine and the modified general community quarantine.