Romblon town mayor, 200 others arrested for attending illegal cockfight

CITY OF CALAPAN — Police on Sunday morning arrested a town chief executive and around 200 individuals while inside a cockpit arena in Ferrol town in Romblon province.

Mimaropa (Mindoro, Marinduque, Romblon and Palawan) police said the arrested suspects included Jovencio Li Mayor Jr., mayor of Ferrol town.

The report said Criminal Investigation Detection Group (CIDG) – Romblon Provincial Field Unit (CIDG-PFU) received information that cockfighting was ongoing at Tubigon Square Garden in Barangay Tubigon despite Romblon province being under Alert Level 3 to curb the spread of COVID-19 and its variants.

The suspects were arrested around 10:20 a.m. while attending the cockfight which violates the Inter-Agency Task Force (IATF) Resolution No. 159-A series of 2022 dated January 29, 2022 and Presidential Decree 449 (Cockfighting Law of 1974), as amended by Presidential Decree 1602, said the report. The anti-illegal gambling operation was done by the CIDG-PFU (as lead unit), Ferrol municipal police station, and Romblon Provincial Mobile Force Company (PMFC) as part of “Operation Plan (OPLAN) Bolilyo.”

Seized from the suspects were an undetermined amount of bet money, gambling paraphernalia, an undetermined number of dead and live fighting cocks, with attached gaffs.

The suspects are under the custody of Romblon PMFC, while CIDG – PFU and the Ferrol police are preparing to file complaints at the provincial prosecutor’s office in Odiongan town.

Mayor, in a text message to Inquirer Monday, admitted that he allowed the conduct of the cockfight after constituents requested permission from him.

“Ferrol has attained her immunity, the only municipality in the province of Romblon, i.e., more than 70 percent of the total population have been fully vaccinated [against COVID-19]. Our COVID-19 case transmission rate, healthcare utilization rate and bed utilization rate are very low, thus, our municipality is considered a low risk municipality and in accord with the IATF resolution, should be classified as alert level 2. This is the reason why I allowed the request of my constituents as it is the only recreation of our farmers, fishers, and construction workers during Sundays with strict observance of minimum health protocols,” Mayor said.

Meanwhile, 47 people were also arrested in the town of Mamburao in Occidental Mindoro province on Sunday, also for attending a cockfighting event.

Mimaropa police said the suspects were caught at around 3 p.m. while at an illegal cockfighting at the village of Tayamaan.

The CIDG Occidental Mindoro and Mamburao police seized from the suspects a plastic bag containing P11,000 cash, 27 fighting cocks, and two boxes with sets of gaffs.

The suspects are under police custody and would be charged with illegal cockfighting.

Brigadier General Sidney Sultan Hernia, Mimaropa police chief, lauded CIDG and local police, saying the operations “only depict that OPLAN Bolilyo is working.”

“I direct all unit commanders to intensify more their operations against illegal cockfighting and other illegal gambling in Mimaropa with a large scale of arrests,” he added.