56 arrested in ‘tigbakay’ face illegal gambling charges

CEBU CITY, Philippines—The Cebu City Police Office (CCPO) on Monday afternoon, April 13, 2020, will be filing illegal gambling charges against the 56 men who were caught in different cockfighting activities in the city over the weekend.

Police Colonel Josefino Ligan, new chief of CCPO, told reporters in a press briefing on Monday morning that they are now preparing the documents for the filing of  charges against those who were caught in illegal cockfighting activities in different barangays in the city from Friday, April 10, to Sunday, April 12.

Read: More ‘tigbakay men’ nabbed in 2 Cebu City brgys

“Kining tawo nga ganahan gyud mo gawas, dakpon nalang gyud nato,” said Ligan.

(These people really like to go out, so let’s just arrest them.)

According to Ligan, they have been repeatedly informing the public that the activities that involves gathering of crowds and going outside their homes without a valid reason is prohibited as per the guidelines of the Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) Executive Order. 

However, the public also continue to violate not only engaging themselves to illegal gambling activities such as cockfighting but also swimming in beaches.

Read: CCPO chief to illegal gamblers: Either you will be arrested or die of COVID-19

It could be remembered that from March 17 to April 6, the number of arrested persons for illegal gambling already reached 226, which adds to the congestion of the detention cells of the 11 stations of CCPO.

One of the solutions that came up to avoid congestion was to immediately file the charges against those arrested after 12 hours of detention.

With this, Ligan encourages the public to cooperate with the rules and regulations of the ECQ to avoid being detained and having to pay fines. /bmjo