An
underground financier of “swertres” challenged police officials in the province
to dismantle the “unholy alliance” of scalawag policemen and a syndicate of
local gambling lords to completely put a stop to the illegal numbers game.
The
financier, who agreed to be interviewed on condition of anonymity, said that
despite pronouncements by police officers to completely put a stop to
“swertres”, the illegal numbers game continues to flourish in Bohol because of
this alleged “syndicate” that has compromised ranking policemen accepting
pay-offs in the form of a regular “protection racket”.
The
alleged syndicate of financiers, has gotten bolder in their operations as their
runners, ushers and coordinators are virtually “untouchable” and no longer
apprehended, as long as they keep remitting 10-percent of their daily proceeds
to “tong” collectors representing scalawag policemen.
The
financier said he is willing to terminate his own network of “swertres” operators
if the police command in the province would crush this “syndicate”, by
apprehending their coordinators, ushers and seize bets that would definitely
stop their operation.
According
to the financier, P/SSupt. Constantino Barot Jr., provincial police director, is
supposedly aware of the existence of the gambling syndicate but has turned a
blind eye on their “unholy alliance” with some of his men.
This
“unholy alliance” between scalawag cops and the local “swertres” lords is
apparently the reason for the low success rate in recent months of the anti
“swetres” campaign waged not only by the Bohol PNP but by the entire regional
police command, according to the financier.
After
a series of province-wide raids against “swertres” operators in the later
months of 2011, financiers were observed to be laying low for a few weeks but
were back to their usual operation after reportedly coming to terms with police
officials working out a “sharing scheme” in exchange for protection or tip offs
on impending police raids targeting the network of illegal numbers game
operators of the “syndicate”.
The
financier said, if SSupt. Barot is serious in his campaign to eradicate
“swertres” in the province, he should explicitly place this “syndicate” on top
of his order of battle.
It
may be recalled that Barot has denied any knowledge of police protecting
“swertres” financiers as he has not heard anyone from the ranks of the Bohol
PNP to spare and set free arrested runners, bet collectors or coordinators.
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