While Lina continues to keep mum whether his jueteng campaign was a success or not after his one-year deadline lapsed on May 6, his anti-gambling task force headed by Chief Superintendent Manuel Cabigon, is doing the talking. Cabigon’s men conducted more than a dozen raids in Metro Manila and nearby provinces but only seven of them turned out to be positive. "The gambling lords have lied low for a while," Cabigon told The STAR, stressing there will be no let-up on his jueteng drive.
The successful raids were conducted by a team headed by Senior Inspector Jess Kabigting, of the Jericho’s special operations group (SOG) at Zone 5, Palayan, Valenzuela City; Bgy. Calingcuan in Tarlac City; Bgy. Longos and Bgy. Sta. Cruz in Guinguinto, Bulacan; Bagong Silang Villa Modesta, Bgy. Malabanan and Sitio Padre, Bgy. Pulong Maragun in Angeles City and in San Francisco, Mabalacat, Pampanga.
Kabigting said those arrested were in the process of drawing the days’ winning combination when they raided the jueteng dens. Majority of those collared were jueteng personnel and bet collectors. Confiscated from them were jueteng paraphernalia and P20,000 in cash bets in different denominations.
"So far, so good," said Cabigon on the success rate of their raids. He expects more raids in the coming days after all slots of the Jericho in the provinces have already been filled up. "We are in the process of intensifying our intelligence gathering and the next step is to conduct raids," he said.
In his report to Cabigon, Kabigting identified the financiers of the raided jueteng dens as Boy Aquino, in Valenzuela City; Boy Viceo and Lito Somera in Bulacan, Rene Pineda in Angeles City and Melchor Caluag, alias Ngongo in Pampanga and Tarlac. Caluag is the only "big fish" arrested and jailed during the one-year jueteng campaign of Lina. These developments confirmed reports that right after he posted bail, Caluag, ignoring Lina’s threats, even expanded his jueteng turf to Baguio City and other provinces. According to Cabigon, he cannot file charges against jueteng lords who operate the raided gambling dens in the absence of "direct evidence." "Their names were mentioned by the arrested jueteng personnel but we have no direct testimony against them," said Cabigon.
When he launched his anti-jueteng drive on April 4 last year, Lina claimed at least 44 gambling lords are operating in the country. He vowed to "stake his neck on the line" but the May 6 deadline he imposed upon himself came and went but he chose to remain silent on the outcome of his jueteng campaign.
Malacañang came to his rescue when it announced early this month that successful or not on his jueteng campaign, Lina would remain in his post at the DILG.