The arrest of the men who were caught playing tigbakay in sitio Ipil-ipil, Barangay Estaca, Compostela, Cebu, on Sunday noon, September 13, 2020. | Photo from Compostela Police Station
CEBU CITY, Philippines — The Compostela Police Station, filed this morning, September 14, 2020, illegal gambling charges against 13 individuals, who were caught playing “tigbakay” and “hantak” in three separate police operations on Sunday, September 13.
Police Captain Vincent Zozobrado, Compostela Police Station chief, told CDN Digital, that they were waiting for the response of the fiscal after filing the case against the illegal gamblers.
The 13 men, who were arrested, were all caught in the act of playing tigbakay and hantak, when the police raided Sitio Ipil-ipil and Purok Manga of Barangay Estaca, at 12:15 p.m. on Sunday.
Zozobrado said that concerned citizens reported the illegal gambling activities in the area, where previous illegal gambling activities were held, raided by police and led to arrests of several men.
“Sige gyud ni nga area diri. Ilang style even sa ubang lungsod, mag balhin balhin ka area kay kahibaw naman sila nga ma pattern sila,” said Zozobrado.
(The area has been a known spot for illegal gambling. There style here and even in some cities, they would often transfer their spots to hold illegal gambling activities to evade the police.)
But Zozobrado said that no matter how much these illegal gamblers would evade arrests by doing all kinds tricks to avoid the authorities, they would eventually get arrested so long as there were concerned citizens who would report about these illegal activities.
The arrested individuals for tigbakay were identified as Jake Pateño, 19; Francisco Watimar, 25; James Ganar, 32; Arnel Ganar, 36; Marx Pastor Ango, 45; Dexter Capangpangan, 45; Alexander Yungco, 51; Arnel Danlag, 42; Jesus Tan Naya, 45, and Ildebrando Noval, 53.
Meanwhile, three were also arrested for playing “hantak” who were said to be Arnel Donaire, 24; Ronober Ruta, 32 and Pejee Durano, 19 — all residents of the area./dbs