Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) General Manager Alexander Balutan declared on Monday that there will be no let-up in the campaign against illegal gambling as it arrested 40 people in Cebu and Mandaue cities on November 20 and 22, respectively.
In a two-day joint operations headed by Manuel Fraginal Sr., chief of the PCSO-Nationwide Inter-Branch Security Monitoring (PCSO-NIBSM), in coordination with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), he said that the crackdown led to the closure of GlobalTech’s “peryahan ng bayan” collection outlets and the arrest of 18 Globaltech employees in Mandaue City and 22 in Cebu City.
“The arrested personnel are now facing cases for violations of Republic Act 9287 (for direct involvement in the illegal numbers game) and Republic Act 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act,” said Fraginal.
Confiscated from the peryahan ng bayan outlets were gambling paraphernalia, fake PCSO identification cards, cellular phones, and other pieces of evidence to be used in court.
Fraginal added that each of the arrested personnel will have to post bail for their temporary liberty ranging from P60,000 to P120,000 depending on the court.
