'Sakla' operators stage wakes, rent corpses

MANILA, PHilippines - Operators of the illegal gambling game “sakla” have turned to renting corpses to stage fake wakes, or arrange to handle gambling games during wakes to raise funds for the deceased’s family, an official said yesterday.

“Sometimes the wake would stretch for almost a month, telling you that it’s actually an illegal gambling operation,” Superintendent Nestor Abalos, Intelligence Division head of the Quezon City Police District, told reporters in an interview after two women were arrested Monday night during an anti-illegal gambling drive.

Abalos said Annaliza Trajano, 33, and Nancy de Guzman, 48, are reportedly handlers of sakla, a card game, at a wake in the area. Police confiscated from the suspects two sets of sakla game cards, a betting desk, markers called tantusan, a gambling tablecloth called tapete and bets amounting to P836.

Abalos admitted that authorities sometimes do not break up sakla games at wakes upon the request of barangay officials. He said that in most cases, the card games are organized to help the family raise funds for the burial of the deceased.

“But in cases like the one we operated, there are wakes that are there for almost every week. We found out that the bangka (or organizers) are the ones who are scouting for corpses to stage the wake,” Abalos said.