A 100-strong police taskforce, specially created to eradicate illegal gambling, has been ordered dismantled after its head was accused of extorting millions of pesos from gambling operators.
Philippine national police director General Hermogenes Ebdane at the weekend directed a probe on Task Force Jericho chief Senior Superintendent Noel Estanislao and his men. Police informers have alleged Superintendent Estanislao was extorting a weekly sum from operators of the illegal numbers game jueteng. The proceeds were laundered by investing in a beach resort outside Manila, the construction of a building and other business ventures.
The continued proliferation of jueteng has been a sore point for the government.
One of the very first promises that President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo made was to put jueteng operators out of business.
She came to power two years ago after her predecessor, Joseph Estrada, was ousted over charges of collecting 545 million pesos (HK$81 million) of protection or bribe money from illegal gambling bosses. That is one of the alleged crimes that Estrada is now standing trial for, along with his son Jinggoy, who is accused of pocketing two million pesos from gambling operators.
President Arroyo assigned Interior and Local Governments Secretary Jose Lina to the task of eradicating jueteng.