Illegal e-sabong joint in Tondo smashed
COMBINED agents of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and the Manila Police District (MPD) on Tuesday afternoon smashed a clandestine E-sabong hub in Tondo following an entrapment operation which led to the arrest of three suspects, a report to PNP Officer-in-Charge, Lieutenant General Vicente D. Danao Jr. said.
PNP-CIDG director, Major Gen. Eliseo DC Cruz said that arrested during the operation were Melvin Isip, tagged as the alleged maintainer of the ‘Guerrilla E-Sabong’ joint located on 232 Magsaysay Street, Barangay 112, Tondo; the joint’s alleged cashier identified as Mark Jorge Reyes,27; and alleged game attendant Archie Balmes,26.
Isip, 26, has been identified as a ‘worker/employee’ of Ricardo ‘Jonjon’ Lasco, one of the e-sabong master agents who was abducted by a group of armed men in his house in Bgy. San Lucas in San Pablo City in Laguna on August 30, 2021.
He was also listed as a member of an ‘E-Sabong Criminal Group’ involved in the illegal operation of E-Sabong in Manila, said CIDG National Capital Region Field Unit chief, Colonel Randy Glenn G. Silvio.
Lasco is one of the 34 ‘missing sabungeros’ whose cases are still being investigated by the PNP-CIDG. A CCTV footage acquired by the CIDG showed the suspects leaving the house in San Pablo City with Lasco and a box said to be containing family-owned jewelry, watches and cash. Lasco has been missing since then.
Col. Silvio said that together with officers from the MPD Station 1 under Brigadier Gen. Leo M. Francisco, they launched the sting at the illegal e-sabong joint 2:30 p.m. Tuesday.
The operation led to the arrest of the three suspects who were caught operating the illegal online cockfighting game, said Silvio.
“The operation emanated from the pronouncement of President Rodrigo Roa Duterte on May 3, 2022 regarding the stoppage of all operations of online E-sabong which was also supported by the Department of Interior and Local Government and PAGCOR,” the official said.
Col. Silvio said that recovered during the operation were five sets of computer desk tops, two mobile phones, three units of LAN routers; and the boodle money topped by one marked P1,000 bill.
