The Philippine National Police (PNP) have arrested around 41,000 people across 50,000 police operations nationally since the start of the year, according to PNP chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr.
As reported by Philippine News Agency, Acorda provided the latest figures in a radio interview on Tuesday in which he was asked about the PNP’s “intensified crackdown” against illegal gambling, and specifically its recently announced one-strike, no-take policy.
Under this policy, any police officials who fail to take adequate action to prevent and crack down on illegal gambling activities within their areas of supervision will be immediately stood down and charged administratively under the doctrine of “command responsibility.”
“We will not tolerate the existence of illegal gambling activities that prey on the most vulnerable members of our society. Together with PCSO, we will deploy all necessary resources and implement stringent measures to put an end to this menace,” Acorda said.
Among the PNP’s focus has been e-sabong, or online cockfighting, which was banned by former President Rodrigo Duterte in May 2022.
“With regards to e-sabong, we have constant online monitoring,” Acorda said. “We also get some help from other agencies and in coordination with the NTC (National Telecommunications Commission), we are able to take down other websites.
“However, we encounter some problems in enforcement. For instance, our laws do not mention anything about online betting. Even if we conduct operations, the betting is done online so we do not have anything to present before the courts.
“But we are trying our best to take down these websites in coordination with other agencies, so we could address this problem).”
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