EDITORIAL - Hulidap cops (Latest Sabong News)
In many cases of armed violence in this country, law enforcers have been tagged as perpetrators or protectors. So it’s not surprising that members of the Philippine National Police are being tagged in reports of arrest-robbery-shakedowns or hulidap, swindling and kidnapping targeting cockfight aficionados.
This week, the police director for Pampanga was sacked for command responsibility after 10 of his men were accused of arresting and then robbing 10 cockfight players or sabungeros of P379,700 during a raid on a cockfight activity in Bacolor town on March 19. The 10 policemen, belonging to the drug enforcement and intelligence units of the Pampanga police, have also been relieved.
Two policemen have also been sacked from their posts in Laguna after they were accused of kidnapping six sabungeros in the province and planting drug evidence. The cops allegedly got P300,000 in cash, jewelry and cell phones from the sabungeros, whom they accused of game fixing.
Cockfight game fixing is also being eyed as the motive for the disappearance of over 30 cockfight aficionados since last year in Manila, Bulacan and Laguna. The PNP has banned its personnel from betting in cockfights, whether online or onsite. Yet the lure of the game remains irresistible for some cops.
In Manila last Wednesday, a police lieutenant was arrested for playing e-sabong and nearly swindling a Sangguniang Kabataan chairman of P170,000 in cash. There are reports that even retired police generals have become operators of e-sabong outlets.
President Duterte, who said in August 2018 that “I hate gambling, I do not want it,” has rejected calls to even suspend e-sabong operations amid the disappearance of the sabungeros, saying the government needs the taxes from the online games to finance the pandemic response.
His administration has also rejected calls from Beijing itself to stop offshore gaming operations whose owners, employees and clients are mostly Chinese from the mainland, where such gambling is banned. Certain casinos in the Philippines, meanwhile, have been flagged by anti-money laundering watchdogs, which have described the country as a “black hole” for dirty money.
The potential for criminal activities arising from gambling is magnified when police personnel are involved. Defenders of e-sabong say the kidnappings and hulidap are police disciplinary problems. Apart from cops breaking the law, however, the games are also spawning social problems, such as the woman who sold her baby for P45,000 to pay off debts including in e-sabong. This largely unfettered gambling operation deserves a closer review.
