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Cops nab 48 for 'illegal' gambling operations in Vizcaya


BAYOMBONG, Philippines – Forty-eight alleged bettors and bet collectors of a controversial on-line gambling firm have been arrested in the northern province of Nueva Vizcaya, police said on Thursday. Those arrested were workers of the Meridian Vista Gaming Corp. (MVGC), said Inspector Noel Aliño, spokesman of the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) in Bayombong. Aliño said joint operatives of the CIDG from the national police headquarters in Camp Crame in Quezon City, and its provincial unit, raided the MVCC’s betting stations early Wednesday for violating the Illegal Gambling Law. MVGC counsel Rolando Taganas said the raids on the company offices in Bayombong and Solano were “irregular" because a temporary restraining order (TRO) issued by a local court was still in effect. “Meridian will continue to operate because of the TRO, (despite the arrest) we will revert back to a status quo were we are allowed to operate again," he said. “I don’t understand why CIDG Manila had to be the one to lead the raid," he added. In April, the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) ordered Meridian Vista to stop its online gaming business, but a court granted a TRO. The company is based with the CEZA, which operates at Port Irene in Santa Ana,Cagayan. CEZA chief executive officer Jose Mari Ponce has sent a letter to MVGC president Aitor Araña Totricabuena ordering the complete the stoppage MVGCs operations, but a court allowed the gambling firm to continue its business. Taganas said he will file a petition asking the courts to lower the P24,000 per head bail set for each suspect. CIDG Camp Crame team leader Police Sr. Inspector Gilbert Bragga said their lawyers have already studied the case and concluded that MVGC’s operations remain illegal despite having been able to acquire a TRO from the courts. Asked by GMANews.TV why they had to conduct the raid despite the presence of CIDG in the province, Bragga said they were only asked to do the job by their “higher-ups". “I am not in a position to answer that," he said. Earlier, Patricio Dumlao, senior member of the provincial board, said that he will personally seek the de-listment of the gambling firm as an enterprise inside CEZA if it’s proven that the gambling firm violated the provisions in PD 1602. The Church and civil society groups in the province have also questioned the operations of the firm saying that it’s just another illegal numbers game like jueteng. Some P11,000 in cash were recovered by the police during the raids. Aliño said they could have recovered more but the raid was so early that most of the bets were still unremitted. Among the recovered evidences were MVGC official betting forms, computers and monitors, he said. - GMANews.TV
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