Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) chief Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) is preparing for the resumption of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) gaming operations this August.
Police Brigadier General Albert Ignatius Ferro, director of PRO-7, said that he will be scheduling a meeting with the officers of PCSO in Central Visayas before August 4, the date set for the resumption of the PCSO operations.
Ferro said that one of the things that will be discussed in the meeting will be the requirement of health standard, especially to those games that would require face-to-face betting like “swertres.”
One of the health standard requirement for these operations included complete disinfectants in the area, strict implementation of social distancing and wearing of face masks at all times.
“We will be asking the minimum health standard [to be maintained]. We should [make sure] that we still protect our people,” said Ferro.
Ferro said that along with the resumption of the PCSO games, they will also be the strictly monitoring other illegal gambling activities such as tigbakay (cockfighting) and other betting outlets that are not registered under the PCSO.
He said that in his 100 days stint as PRO-7 head, a total of 1,385 anti-illegal gambling operations were stopped, which led to the arrest of 3,465 individuals who were participating or organizing the illegal activities. /bmjo