‘STL bookie’ nabbed in Quezon City
By: RV Castro
OPERATIVES of the Quezon City Police District (QCPD) arrested the sales supervisor of the operator of the ‘Small Town Lottery’ (STL) for allegedly engaging in ‘bookie’ operation whereby the government-approved numbers game is turned into an illegal gambling activity.
P/Col. Melgar Devaras, chief of the District Special Operations Unit (DSOU), in his report to QCPD director, P/BGen. Nicolas Torre III, identified the suspect as Teddy Pascual, 53, a native of Cebu and a resident of Block 8, Lot 6, Pook Pag-asa St., Barangay Batasan Hills, Quezon City.
Pascual is a sales supervisor of the ‘Lucent Gaming and Entertainment’ an STL authorized agent company by the Philippine Charity and Sweepstakes Office (PCSO), based on the identification card confiscated from him.
Pascual was arrested at around 10:30pm last September 7, 2022, at his village while allegedly in the act of conducting a bookie operation.
According to Devaras, the arrest of Pascual was in response to the directive of PNP Chief, P/Gen. Rodolfo Azurin Jr., in relation to the campaign against illegal gambling, particularly the use of PCSO’s legal number games such as STL, EZ 2 and Lotto as a front for illegal gambling activities such as bookies,
The PCSO’s revenue for its charity programs for the poor is hugely affected by such racket.
“Their style is to transfer the money to others or to the bookies, so the PCSO loses a lot due to low revenues,” added P/Col. Orteza, QCPD Deputy Director for Administration.
Prior to this, the DSOU also onducted anti-illegal gambling operations under the leadership of PMaj. Don Don M Llapitan and PLt. Armando N Penaflor Jr. under the supervision of Devaras, in Pook Pag-asa, Batasan Hills over reports of rampant bookies operations in the area.
Pascual has been booked by the police for violation of PD 1602, as amended by RA 9287, the country’s law on illegal gambling.
