Mindanaotoday.com | Probe on illegal gambling operations in NorMin to continue: NBI-10
By: Franck Dick Rosete
CAGAYAN DE ORO CITY – The top official of the National Bureau of Investigation-10 (NBI-10) has assured the public they will continue the intensive surveillance and monitoring against possible illegal gambling activities that operate in the region.
Lawyer Patricio Bernales, NBI-10 director, made this assertion following their raid on an alleged a poker house at Tomas Saco St. in Barangay Nazareth, this city, on Thursday, November 3.
Bernales said there is a need for further investigation for possible gambling dens that operate within the region without necessary documents.
“Let’s see because that is also subject to another investigation. The one thing for us is if they are not open to the public,” Bernales said mixed in vernacular, in an interview on Friday, November 4.
“There is a huge difference between gambling activities that are open to the public than games with close friends. Because maybe it is located in houses that are hard to penetrate. There are a lot of things to do when it comes to that,” he added.
After the said operation, the authorities had nabbed over 20 individuals inside the poker house, composed of players and employees.
The owner of the gambling venue was not present during the raid.
In one of his radio interviews, lawyer Nolan Gadia, NBI-10 special investigator, said they confiscated more or less P100,000 worth of money and many various poker cash game chips that can be converted to huge amounts of money.
Bernales confirmed that the said establishment has a business permit from the city government but that it pertains to the sports bar business.
However, the NBI-10 operatives hadn’t found inside the gambling establishment the permit to operate casino-like cash poker games, which can only be obtained from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).
Bernales urged individuals who are into poker games to assure that the establishment that they’re entering has the complete documents.
“The connection for this, it’s between us and the community. If the community would report to us, we would be forced to investigate because that is our mandate,” he explained. (MT)
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