Young police official arrested over cases rooted to online sabong addiction (Sabong News)
Author
Aaron Recuenco
Date
MARCH 31 2022
He is supposed to be a rising star of the Philippine National Police (PNP) in the field of anti-illegal drugs operations, until the “curse” of online sabong (cockfighting) kicked in.
And now, 24-year old Police Lt. John Kevin Menes is under restrictive custody and facing a string of criminal and administrative cases that investigators said were rooted to online sabong addiction.
Menes, a graduate of the PNP Academy, was first restricted at the headquarters of the Police Regional Office 4A in Laguna over the disappearance of some P500,000 cash allocated to the police’s Drug Enforcement Group for PRO4A. The fund is being used for show money in buy-bust operations and and other expenses of the local police anti-drugs units.
Last year, Ramos was awarded for leading an operation that resulted in the confiscation of some P1.7 million worth of shabu and the arrest of two big-time drug pushers in Taguig City. He was then a head of a special operations unit of the National Capital Region Police Office.
But Ramos escaped on March 27 and left the camp using a car he borrowed from a rookie policeman. He did not return the vehicle as promised.
Two days later, he was monitored to be at an online betting station in Station. Mesa, Manila. When the cops arrived, he was being held by the employees for his unpaid debts amounting to P15,000.
When he was asked about the vehicle, he told the police investigators that he left it in Tondo, Manila.
Police then proceeded to the area early morning of Thursday, March 31, and spotted the vehicle he borrowed from the rookie cop. But while the policemen was checking on the vehicle, a man approached the cops and later told them that it was pawned to him by Menes for P170,000 with one percent interest a day.
“Knowing fully that the vehicle is owned by a commissioned officer and gaining his trust and confidence, he accepted the offer and paid Lt. Menes the said amount, who in turn, delivered the vehicle to him,” a police report reaching Camp Crame in Quezon City read.
Menes was then arrested and taken back to the police camp while the vehicle was recovered and returned to the rookie policeman.
Early this month, PNP chief Gen. Dionardo Carlos banned all policemen from engaging in online sabong in a move to protect them from its addicting effects.
Just recently, two policemen, one from Oriental Mindoro and one from Laguna, were arrested for robbery and the reason was that they were hooked into online sabong.
