City, town police chiefs earn peanuts from gambling

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

A chief of police (COP) of a large town reminisced the years when a COP could get P200, 000 to P400, 000 a month protection monies from the illegal number games’ jueteng lord.

“Maliit ang bigayan ngayon ng Peryahan ng Bayan sa amin, kuya,” he told me when I asked him how the number game played like jueteng PnB shares the sales with the COP.

Jueteng was illegal where most of the proceeds went to the pockets of the gambling lords, police brass, and politicians while Peryahan ng Bayan (PnB) is legal under the Duterte Administration where a bulk of its revenues go to the coffer of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) to help the destitute.

Officers and men of the Philippine National Police. Photo Credit: Official Gazette.

A high official, who asked for anonymity, of the PCSO franchised Small Town Lottery (STL) who is based in Southern Luzon told this writer that chiefs of police felt sorry now because they get only a pittance monthly from the share of the PnB’s daily revenues.

“It’s only the (police) provincial and regional police directors who earned big monthly from PnB while the chiefs earned peanuts”.

He said if the collection of bet monies a day in a big city is P500, 000, the COP gets .5%  (or point five percent) or P2,500 a day or P75, 000 a month.

He explained this monthly amount is not hefty because the COP has to feed the daily meals of his policemen that numbered into hundreds.

“Noong panahon ng jueteng magkano ang kita ng chief of police sa siyudad na ito?” I asked him.

He said between P400, 000 to P450, 000 monthly.

A COP who was assigned in a coastal city told me years ago that when some generals at Camp Crame will call or text him for several kilos of alimango (mud or mangrove crabs) and bangus, the former would just tell the generals that he would take the tab of the aquatic products packaged with ice in a Styrofoam.

“Malakas kasi ang jueteng noon unlike sa mga hepe ngayon na barya barya na lang ang natatangap sa palaro,” the officer told me.

The STL brass said that unlike with the provincial and regional directors, a PD (provincial director) earns 1% of the daily gross of PnB thus he could snare up to P4.5 million a month.

“Mas malaki pa ang kita ng PD ngayon kaysa mga PD noong panahon ni President Noynoy Aquino,” I commented.

He nodded his head.

During the Aquino Administration, a police provincial director in a province in Northern Luzon can only earn up to P1.5 million a month.

With the information I got with the STL executive, if a PD could earn P4.5 Million monthly the Regional Director could earn, I surmised, more or less P10 million a month because he oversees several provinces.

“Kawawa ang mga hepe kasi ang PD maliit lang naman ang maibibigay sa kanila. Kung sa sampung pesos ang kita niya kada buwan, mga peso or dos lang ang maiaambag niya sa kanila,” he cited.

   
(You can read my selected columns at http://mortzortigoza.blogspot.com and articles at Pangasinan News Aro. You can send comments too at totomortz@yahoo.com)

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