Cruz to tackle jueteng with PNP’s Bataoil
The first was saved for the niceties. Next time it will be down to serious business.
Lingayen-Dagupan Archbishop Oscar Cruz said Ilocos police regional director Chief Supt. Leopoldo Bataoil’s courtesy call to him was a “very pleasant meeting” and he plans to return the visit to the newly-installed police chief “with some concrete reference data on gambling”.
“I was not exacting anything from him or asking anything”, Cruz told The PUNCH.
But the church official was quick to add that when he visits Bataoil in his regional office in San Fernando City, La Union soon, he intends to bring him pasalubong of material information related to gambling operations in the region.
He said jueteng in Pangasinan has stopped but there are still operations in other provinces in Region 1.
The senior prelate said he feels at home with the new regional director, whom he knows from way back when Bataoil served as the provincial director of Pangasinan.
“I trust him very much,” said Cruz who harbors high hopes that he will be able to work together with Bataoil in addressing the illegal gambling issue in the area.
Cruz said Bataoil, accompanied by Supt. Noli Taliño, provincial police deputy director for operations, Supt. Edgar Basbas, Dagupan’s police chief and Melo Acuña, station manager of Radio Veritas visited him Oct. 27 at the Archbishop’s Palace.
Cruz is a staunch advocate against illegal gambling, particularly jueteng. He is the national chairman of Krusada ng Bayan Laban sa Jueteng (People’s Crusade Against Jueteng). The police, on the other hand, are mandated to enforce laws against illegal gambling in their respective areas. – EVA
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