Brgy chief eludes cops in raid vs illegal gambling

ILOILO CITY, Philippines — Policemen failed to arrest Tabuc Suba Barangay Chairman Victorio Rejaba Sr in a raid of his house last Friday at sitio Little Janiuay in Cubay village, following reports of his alleged involvement in illegal gambling activities in the city.

But, while Rejaba slipped past the raiding team, operatives caught his son and three other persons, tallying bet sheets and counting bet money.

Arrested were Mark Vic Rejaba, 30, who works at the Iloilo City Hall and the alleged maintainer/manager of the illegal gambling operations, Edlen Agayating, 30, of La Paz district, Joan Labang, 52, of Jaro district, and Hayde Endioday, 45, also of Jaro.

The operatives of the Regional Intelligence Division and the Jaro Police Station were armed with a search warrant issued by Regional Trial Court-Iloilo City Judge Loida Diestro Maputol against the village chief who was tagged as the financier of the First Two numbers game in the area.

"According to our intelligence reports, Rejaba has been financing the First Two for a long time already," said Supt. Noel Lamsis,  RID team leader, adding that the police has been monitoring the activities of the barangay official since.

First Two is an illegal numbers game that piggybacks on a legal lottery games hosted by the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office or the sanctioned Small Town Lottery (STL). The results of First Two are derived from the first 2 numbers drawn for this lottery.

Lamsis said the raiding team recovered a wash basin full of coins and bills totaling P578,244, bundles of bet list (locally known as cotejos), a .45-caliber pistol loaded with seven live bullets, four pieces of .389-cal. Bullets, a .9-mm magazine and six pieces of its ammunitions.

Rejaba was the third barangay chairman to be linked to alleged illegal activities in Panay island. Two others, Bram Pimentel of Brgy. Guinacas in Pototan town of Iloilo and Diaster Genoves of Brgy. Pili in Panay, Capiz were arrested for illegal drugs. (FREEMAN)