De Lima: Govt to go on offensive vs illegal jai alai ops

With no more legal impediment to the government's crackdown on illegal jai alai betting and gaming stations, the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) have vowed to intensify their campaign against the illegal establishments. On Thursday, the Pasay City Regional Trial Court Branch 115 denied to extend the 72-hour temporary restraining order (TRO) against the implementation of the DOJ-DILG's memorandum ordering a crackdown on off-fronton jai alai gaming and betting stations. The Court of Appeals has likewise issued a TRO that temporarily stopped the only legal jai alai operations in the country. Only Meridien Vista Gaming Corporation (MVGC) has the license to operate jai alai betting and gaming stations within the Cagayan Freeport Zone, the only area where the game can be played. This is because the Aparri Regional Trial Court has allowed Meridien to operate only within the Cagayan Freeport Zone. In a text message on Friday, De Lima said the two positive developments will only reinforce their drive against illegal jai alai operations. "With this development, there being no legal impediment, and also in light of the CA's TRO which is favorable to the government, Interior Sec. Robredo and I agreed to go offensive on the implementation of the DOJ-DILG joint memorandum," De Lima said. DOJ-DILG joint memo Last June 27, the DOJ and DILG ordered law enforcement bodies to search and seize illegal jai alai betting and gaming stations, which are those located outside the Cagayan Freeport Zone. Only Meridien was authorized to operate within the freeport zone. However, Green Lotus Amusement Center proprietor Ferdinand Ojeiro went to the Pasay RTC to have the DOJ-DILG order nullified. The Pasay court then issued a 72-hour TRO halting the enforcement of the order. The TRO lapsed last July 13, prompting Ojeiro to seek an extension. But in an order dated July 14, the Pasay court junked his petition after finding that Green Lotus does not have a right to operate a jai alai betting station outside the Cagayan Freeport Zone. "Without showing any clear and present right, this court, perforce, cannot extend the temporary restraining order," said Pasay RTC Branch 115 Presiding Judge Francisco Mendiola. CA's resolution Four days before the Executive branch issued the joint memo, the Court of Appeals' Third Division also favored the state-owned Games and Amusements Boards' (GAB) bid against Meridien's jai alai operations in the Cagayan Freeport Zone. The CA then suspended the Aparri Regional Trial Court's orders allowing Meridien to operate within the freeport zone. GAB has argued that the Aparri RTC committed grave abuse of discretion when it ruled in favor of Meridien, whose jai alai operations the state gaming agency has questioned. — RSJ, GMA News