10 Meridien employees caught, charged for illegal gambling

Police anti-gambling operatives from the Office for Internal Security of the Department of Interior and Local Government have filed illegal gambling charges against 10 employees of the Meridien Vista Gaming Corporation who were arrested in Taytay, Rizal last Monday.

The police team led by Chief Inspector Jay Guillermo from the OIS DILG said the MVGC employees were found to be involved in jueteng operations instead of jai-alai online betting games.

The arrested suspects charged for violation of Presidential Decreee 1602 before the Rizal Prosecutors Office (case No. XV-18M-INQ-110j-1378) were identified as Edwin Rodriguez, table manager; Joel Aguila, Bienvenido Torculas and Ricardo Chamacho, all collectors/kabo; and personnel/rebisadors Alex Abella, Reynold Gumarang, John-John Hernandez, Reynold Gumarang, Elmer Mendoza, Warren Magbanua, and Ruel Malawan.

During the surprise raid at their office, the MVGC employees claimed they are engaged in on-line jueteng betting and that their operations are legal as they have a writ of preliminary injunction issued on September 28, 2011 by the Court of Appeals enjoining the National Police and other law enforcement agencies against conducting operations against the MVGC.

But Guillermo said that during the raid, the MVGC employees were caught tabulating and determining jueteng winning combinations, their computer was shut off, the seized bet papelitos were those used in jueteng, no on-line bettors were present, and that that the bets collected were being put in by kubradors or peddling collectors.

"All of the evidence seized on site point to the operation of jueteng and negate their claim that they were engaged in on-line jail-alai betting operations," he said.

According to Guillermo, the bet combinations being collected by the MVGC employees negates their claim that they are into jai-alai games, because jai-alai only involves two or three winning combinations and should not exceed more than the number 11.

"Based on the evidence we seized from the MVGC employees, they are collecting bet combinations based on numbers 1 to 39 and exceeds number 11. This means they are not on jai-alai but on jueteng operations," he said.

He added that Games and Amusement Board (GAB), which has regulatory and supervision over jai-alai games, has not issued any permit to operate to all of MVGC's off-fronton betting station.

The MVGC, which supposedly was allowed to operate only inside the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) in Cagayan province, has established numerous jai-alai off-fronton online betting stations in many parts of the country, particularly in Metro Manila, Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog.

The firm is widely-believed as co-owned by former President Joseph Estrada's gambling consultant, Charlie "Atong" Ang. – DILG