Nabbed tigbakay gamblers are SAP, 4Ps beneficiaries — police

Five men caught while engaging in illegal cockfighting (tigbakay) are found out to be beneficiaries of SAP and 4Ps. | CDN Digital file photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The campaign to arrest those, who will be caught engaging in illegal cockfighting (tigbakay), continues.

This time, Consolacion policemen were able to arrest five men in a separate operations in Barangays Casili and Pulpogan of this northern Cebu town this afternoon, May 31, 2020.

Police Staff Sergeant Rhexter Armenion of the Consolacion Police Station said the first operation against tigbakay happened at Barangay Casili at around 12:05 p.m.

Responding policemen were able to catch Brian Reglamos, 35; Jeus Renes, 19; Joel Jarales, 33; and Rechie Moaña, 29; who were all residents of the area.

Both Reglamos and Moaña were later found out to be beneficiaries of the Social Amelioration Program (SAP) of the government, said Armenion.

Three live fighting cocks were among those confiscated from the four men.

Less than two hours later, policemen responded to a report about another illegal cockfighting activity or tigbakay at around 1:30 p.m in Barangay Pulpogan.

Armenion said that the Consolacion personnel arrested Bonifacio Limbaga Jr., 43, and Pedro Pacquin, 42, who are both residents of the area.

Upon profiling of the arrested men, Armenion said that Pacquin was found out to be a member of the Pantawid Pamilyang Pilipino Program (4Ps).

Today’s arrest of the five men also came a day after policemen of Medellin and Compostela towns conducted separate raids against illegal cockfighting (tigbakay) on Saturday, May 30, and also arrested five men.

Read more: Medellin, Compostela cops nab 5 ‘tigbakay’ gamblers

With this arrest,  Armenion said they could only continue to arrest and file charges as they had been patrolling around the town reminding the residents to avoid engaging in any illegal activities, but they were still able to catch people violating rules repeatedly after also repeatedly reminding them not to do these illegal activities.

“Mga wala lang gyud ni silay mabuhat unya mangita sila nga magka tapok-tapok,” said Armenion.

(These people I think have nothing to do at home and they look for activities where they can gather together.)

All the five persons are now being held at the Consolacion Police detention facility pending the filing of charges for violating Presidential Decree 1602 or the anti-illegal gambling law./dbs