Pasig residents decry illegal numbers, color games

A mini-carnival in Barangay Rosario in Pasig City has been reportedly attracting schoolchildren to the illegal numbers and color games and concerned parents are now up in arms against its operator believed to be in connivance with the local police.

Parents are now urging Mayor Vicente Eusebio to close the establishment.

"Hindi kami halos makatulog sa sobrang ingay na dulot ng peryahan na ‘yan (We cannot sleep because of the noise it generates)," a local resident said.

The mini-carnival was located at the Ligaya, Rosario-Marikina jeepney terminal along Rosario Highway. The residents claim there are six tables offering numbers and color games, which Superintendent Napoleon Taas, intelligence chief of the Metro police, said fall under the category of illegal gambling.

"The color and number games fall under R.A. 1602 or illegal gambling and it should not be allowed to operate, especially if they cater to school- children," Taas told The Star.

The mini-carnival started operating before the Holy Week and is open from 6 p.m. until the wee hours of the morning.

A resident claimed that he reported the presence of illegal gambling in the mini-carnival to the local police but his complaints was unheeded.

Taas said he will send a team to the area to verify the complaint of Pasig residents.

For his part, Chief Superintendent Oscar Valenzuela, director of the Eastern Police District (EPD) ordered an investigation on the illegal operations of the mini-carnival.

Valenzuela directed Senior Superintendent Raul Medina, Pasig City police chief to see to it that the numbers and color games are barred from the mini-carnival. — Non Alquitran