9 ‘bookies’ collectors nabbed in Quezon City

MANILA, Philippines — Nine collectors of illegal gambling operations were arrested in Quezon City by operatives of the Philippine National Police - Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) last Monday night.

The suspects were arrested in three separate areas where draws of illegal numbers game “bookies” were being held. 

Five of them – Guelboy Flores, Melody De Guzman, Elmer Florendo, Edward Nepomuceno and Jimbo Javier – were nabbed at their draw center in Barangay Kamuning.

They were detained at the CIDG field office in Camp Karingal and will be charged with violation of Republic Act 9287 (Anti-Illegal Numbers Game Law).

Bookies is an illegal numbers game that use winning numbers from small-town lottery (STL) draws of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO).

The operations were conducted upon instructions of CIDG chief Brig. Gen. Joel Coronel, as requested by PCSO general manager Royina Garma. 

The bookies collectors were reported to be part of a syndicate that operates the illegal numbers game in Quezon City using an STL in the neighboring Marikina City as a front.

The illegal gambling operations are managed by four operators identified only as aliases Tepang, Egay, Baby Brutus, Pening at Dong, according to a PCSO report.

“When jueteng operations slowed down, this group transferred their illegal operations to bookies using the draw results from an STL center in Marikina,” a source told The STAR.

“They prey on the ‘bangka’ or the legitimate STL franchise holder by collecting millions of pesos in ‘goodwill and bond’ money with a promise or big returns. But they would actually kill the STL operations until the bangka goes bankrupt and then they would look for another one to victimize,” the insider added.

Based on information from PCSO, the syndicate earns about P10 million per month from bookies operations in the city.   

President Duterte ordered the suspension of STL games in July last year due to low collections by PCSO and under-remittances by operators.

When PCSO resumed operations, Garma intensified its campaign against illegal numbers games like jueteng, loteng and bookies.