Metro Manila police chief Deputy Director General Edgar Aglipay called for a command conference tomorrow to rejuvenate the campaign in the metropolis.
"Be ready to brief us on your respective accomplishments with emphasis on campaign against illegal gambling," Aglipay said in his directive to the five police district directors, their staff officers and the 37 station commanders in Metro Manila.
Records showed that only the Regional Intelligence and Special Operations Office (RISOO), Aglipay’s operating arm, is faring well in the fight against jueteng in Metro Manila.
So far, RISOO under Supe-rintendent Bayani de la Rea has conducted three successful raids on jueteng dens since last month which resulted in the arrest of 44 personnel, bet collectors and cabos and the recovery of at least P30,000 in bets.
The five police districts also submitted reports regarding their jueteng operations but it was noted that majority of their accom-plishments were "stage-managed" or "hingi-huli" in police parlance.
Even Task Force Jericho, the operating arm of Lina, has not made much headway in the fight against jueteng in Metro Manila.
A number of police officials told The STAR that Task Force Jericho has made a significant number of arrests but what they got were mere bet collectors or "small fries."
"They were conducting selec-tive raids and not a single big-time jueteng lord was taken into their custody," one of the police officials said.
Because of the low success rate of the police districts in their jueteng campaign, the NCRPO implemented last month the P10,000 reward for informants which resulted in three successful RISOO raids.
Aglipay said the gathering of top Metro Manila policemen tomorrow was to reverse the situation and make the anti-jueteng drive of Lina a big success.
"We will now focus our attention in our drive against illegal gambling," said Aglipay as he reiterated his warning to relieve police officials found remiss in their duties.
Aglipay has sacked a precinct commander each in Quezon City and Manila for allegedly abetting jueteng in their areas of jurisdiction. — Non Alquitran