The First Provincial Mobile Force Company arrest 53 men caught engaging in illegal cockfighting activity or tigbakay on Saturday, June 29, 2020 in Sitio esi, Barangay Kal-anan, Tabogon, Cebu.| CONTRIBUTED PHOTO — Police Lt. Col. Randy Korret
CEBU CITY, Philippines — Cebu Governor Gwendolyn Garcia has warned barangay chiefs that they will be held accountable if illegal gambling activities, particularly cockfighting or “tigbakay,” will persist under their watch.
Garcia, who signed this Thursday, July 9, 2020, Executive Order No. 20, said all forms of gambling, including cockfighting, were still prohibited in the entire Cebu province as it would shift into a more relaxed modified general community quarantine (MGCQ).
EO No. 20, which takes effect at midnight on Friday, July 10, sets the protocols that the province will observe under MGCQ.
Garcia called on barangay captains to enforce the prohibitions as she warned them that they would need to answer if such activities would happen in their barangays.
“I-apil nako pagpanubag ang kapitan sa barangay kung mahitabo na ang tigbakay kay way mahitabo sa barangay nga walay pagtugot sa kapitan. Let this be a warning to all barangay captains,” Garcia said.
(I will include the barangay captains to answer for the tigbakay in their barangay because no such activity would happen without the permission of the barangay captain. Let this be a warning to all barangay captains.)
Since the start of the community quarantine at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic last March, provincial police officers have apprehended a number of persons who engaged in tigbakay in Cebu province
READ: Another Dumanjug brgy captain nabbed for ‘tigbakay’
One of the recent illegal gambling operations in Cebu province resulted in the arrest of 53 men in Tabogon town in northern Cebu, who were caught engaging in illegal cockfighting in Barangay Kal-anan.
READ: Tabogon police files illegal gambling raps vs brgy chief, 56 others for ‘tigbakay’
The police included the captain of the barangay in the filing of charges as Colonel Roderick Mariano, Cebu Police Provincial Office director, said it was impossible for the official not to know about the illegal activity there./dbs