Jueteng lord still free despite arrest order

A week after Metro Manila police Chief Director Edgar Aglipay ordered his arrest, Eduardo "Eddie" Caro, the new jueteng king of the metropolis, remains scot-free.

And worse, Caro’s jueteng business in 13 towns and cities in Metro Manila has gone into full-blast, contrary to police officials’ claims that he now resorts to "kangaroo" style operations.

Meanwhile, Caro’s brother-in-law, a certain Julie Baba, was heard boasting that The Star’s series of exposés on their jueteng operations would not make a dent in their illegal business.

Julie Baba is said to be Caro’s liaison officer with ranking police and local government officials. He is reportedly armed with a caliber .45 automatic pistol.

The Star police source said Caro’s jueteng operations remain in high gear in the Southern Police District (SPD) area, especially in the cities of Muntinlupa and Las Piñas. Caro is also reported to be operating jueteng in Manila, Quezon City, Caloocan City and Valenzuela City, the police source said.

Senior Superintendent Manuel Cabigon, SPD director, has directed Chief Inspector Jesus Kabigting, of the SPD anti-crime unit, to go after Caro’s jueteng operations.

Kabigting confirmed to The Star that Caro continues collecting bets in the SPD area of responsibility. But Kabigting stressed that initial field reports showed that Caro draws the winning combinations of his illegal business at the boundary of Muntinlupa City and San Pedro, Laguna and in barangay Molino, Bacoor, Cavite.

Kabigting vowed to go after Caro’s jueteng operations. "Give us a week to produce results," he told The Star.

For his part, Superintendent Federico Castro, Eastern Police District (EPD) intelligence chief, clarified that Caro has not gone into hiding.

He explained that they cannot arrest Caro on sight because they have no pending warrant for him.

What they are doing now, Castro said, is to locate and conduct raids of Caro’s jueteng joints in the EPD area so they could secure a warrant of arrest to legalize his detention. But after four days, Castro’s men are still emptyhanded.

Senior Superintendent Simeon Dizon Jr., EPD director, admitted Caro’s bet collectors (kabos) continue to do the rounds of Marikina City. But reports reaching his office showed that Caro draws his winning combination for his Marikina and Rizal province operations in Barangay Panti, Cainta town.

Caro’s rise to the top last year went unnoticed because the police were busy attending to pro-administration and anti-Erap rallies.

Earlier, Aglipay directed the five district directors in Metro Manila not to neglect the campaign against illegal gambling, so they could not be accused of allowing it. – Non Alquitran