‘Swertres’ protection money, unheard of – Barot

With the police again placed in the spotlight for allegedly receiving “protection money” from underground financiers of the illegal numbers game “swertres”, Bohol Police Provincial Director SSupt. Constantino Barot Jr. said he finds the accusations levelled against policemen “puzzling and inexplicable”.

“Ever since we have been making arrests of ‘swertres’ ushers, runners and operators, nobody from the police rank-and-file has called me up or asked me personally to spare someone who is apprehended because we are receiving money from them,” Barot bared in an interview over dyRD’s “Inyong Alagad” on Monday.

During the interview, Barot laughed off reports of alleged “sharing schemes” which affected bet values against winnings, as a result of a higher payola given to members of the police force, acting as protectors of local financiers.

“I don’t know why the police is always blamed when in fact I received last week accomplishment reports from chiefs of police which included several arrests we have made against the swertres network,” the provincial police commander added.

He said people have abused the phrase “police protection” making them the likely suspects when the success of the anti-illegal gambling drive relies heavily on the local chief executives.

“By law, it is the local executives (mayors) who are tasked in spearheading the campaign against swertres. The public knows that if mayors do not allow the illegal numbers game in their area, swertres would not thrive,” Barot said.

Barot admitted however that the Bohol police, since the start of his tenure as provincial director, have yet to capture the virtual “big fish” among swertres operators here in the province.

“It is hard to link financiers to the day-to-day operations since most of them are not directly involved in the illegal activity and are just providing the financial capital for operators and coordinators.

Even if we raid homes of suspected financiers, there is probably nothing that could directly tie them up to illegal swertres,” Barot explained.

The provincial director urged the public to provide specific information against policemen who are involved in protecting illegal gambling since these are serious allegations that needs to be verified and save those who are honestly doing their job as law enforcers.