EDITORIAL - One-strike policy

Following a series of raids nationwide, 92 police officers will be relieved for failure to curb illegal gambling operations, the Philippine National Police announced. The PNP leadership said this is in line with the so-called one-strike policy, under which PNP commanders face relief if jueteng and other illegal gambling activities are found in their jurisdictions.

This policy has been in place for many years but enforced sporadically, which has to be why illegal gambling, especially jueteng, continues to flourish in many parts of the country. The 92 officers, all precinct commanders and chiefs of police, were ordered relieved after 121 anti-gambling raids conducted nationwide from Feb. 14 to March 13 this year by combined teams from the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group and Intelligence Group led to the arrest of 293 people and confiscation of gambling paraphernalia.

A PNP report said its office in Region 12 or Socsargen – which covers the provinces of South Cotabato, Cotabato, Sarangani and Sultan Kudarat as well as the cities of Cotabato and General Santos – has the highest number of police commanders ordered relieved with 17, followed by the Calabarzon regional command with 13. The region covers the provinces of Cavite, Laguna, Batangas, Rizal and Quezon.

The Calabarzon police chief was earlier sacked and now faces charges over the killing of 13 men in Quezon. Investigators said a turf war over jueteng was the likely motive for the mass killings carried out by a joint police-military team last Jan. 6.

Murder is not the only offshoot of illegal gambling. Several former interior secretaries have noted that jueteng is one of the biggest sources of corruption nationwide. Gambling lords have used dirty money to finance election campaigns, and several have themselves entered politics. Illegal gambling operations stop when lawmen do their job. This campaign can only succeed if it is sustained and jueteng coddlers receive appropriate punishment.