LINGAYEN- The campaign versus gambling machines is risking police effectiveness in its other missions. 
This appears to be the sentiment of Police Provincial Director  Sr. Supt. Alan Purisima when he said the campaign against the poor man’s slot machines called “hataw”, including its cousin fruit game, “ameneng“, “is draining the resources of the police”.
He noted that there are too many police personnel now deployed in the field to seize these illegal gambling machines and arrest their operators.
Purisima lamented that there are more important problems that the police must have to attend to in line with its mission to maintain peace and order  and  protect the people from criminals and trouble-makers but unable to deploy them owing to the governor’s directive.
The police’s action against gambling machines was prompted by a memorandum of Gov. Victor Agbayani directing Purisima to weed out illegal gambling machines that had allegedly proliferated in various parts of the province.
Mayor Benjamin Lim of Dagupan City followed suit and gave his chief of police   a   deadline   within which to seize all gambling machines operating in the city.
While a big number of the gambling machines appears to have already been seized by the police, reports are persistent that there are still too many of these around spread in various places that are now being hidden inside various residential houses.
Purisima asked: ôIto bang ginawa nating ito ay more advantageous to the community or baka naman may napapabayaan natin na ibang krimen para maresolba lang ang isyung ito?
With a tinge of sarcasm, he wondered if the people raising the alarm simply want these illegal operators to run to them for protection?
Purisma went on to answer his own question when he stressed that while it is important to curb the presence of the gambling machines proliferating in the country, the police must continue to address other more pressing issues, like rising criminality in the communities.
 He said everyone should look at criminality in its totality and not only focus on slot machines and directed that greater resources be deployed to address the peace and order problems.

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