Duterte Is Using The Philippine Police to Target Illegal Gambling After Drugs War

Posted on: September 15, 2016, 06:00h.

Last updated on: September 15, 2016, 07:51h.

Casino.org Staff Writer Read More

Expertise: Commercial Gaming.

Duterte and Philippine police promise to target illegal gambling — Durerte Tactics: Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs has killed thousands through the use of vigilantes. Now he’s turning his attention to illegal gambling. (Image: Bullit Marquez/AP)

Philippine National Police (PNP) said this week that having “eliminated” the country’s illegal drug menace “six months ahead of schedule,” it will now turn its attention to illegal gambling.

Of course, if the country’s drugs problem has truly been eradicated, the PNP should not take all the credit. It’s had plenty of help from the populace. Over 3,000 Filipinos have been killed so far as part of President Rodrigo Duterte’s war of drugs in the two months since he was elected, and the PNP has only managed to kill about half of them.

The rest have been murdered by vigilantes inspired by Duterte’s violent rhetoric and the promise of impunity from prosecution. Duterte has declared criminals to be “legitimate targets of assassination” and once offered a reward to anyone who could “bring him the head” of a local gang leader.

“Do Your Duty”

“All of you who are into drugs, you sons of bitches, I will really kill you,” he said, as part of his election manifesto.

“If you know of any addicts, go ahead and kill them yourself as getting their parents to do it would be too painful,” he assured Filipinos everywhere.

“Do your duty, and if in the process you kill 1,000 persons because you were doing your duty, I will protect you,” he told police officers the day after he came to power.”

Filipinos engaged in the illegal gambling trade had better watch their backs. Speaking at a PNP conference this week, Chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said that the days of those offering illicit gambling were numbered.

He was largely referring to operators of numbers rackets in the Leyte and Samar region of the country. But Dela Rosa also has his target aimed at the illegal cock-fighting rings off Tacloban City.

He warned members of the regional police force to refrain from protecting or engaging in the illegal activities targeted by President Rodrigo Duterte, or face the consequences.

New Online Gambling Regime

Duterte, who recently referred to the President of the United State as “the son of a whore,” has already systematically dismantled the country’s online gaming “boutiques”, the largest chain of which was owned by Philweb. The firebrand president appears to have a particular dislike of Philweb’s owner, the billionaire Robert Ongpin, whom he has branded an “oligarch,” exactly the type of person he wants wiped off the face of the earth.

But the government’s gambling regulator, PAGCOR, recently announced that it was prepared to license “offshore” online gambling firms that targeted “non-locals.” And on Wednesday it said it would begin accepting “letters of intent” from foreign companies who might be interested.

Don’t all rush in at once, guys…

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malcolmkyle September 16, 2016

The Rome Statute defines murder or persecution that is knowingly “committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack against any civilian population” as a crime against humanity. The wide-scale extrajudicial killings carried out under Duterte’s orders meet that definition. Duterte will soon stand trial in the International Court of The Hague for the unlawful murder of many thousands of civilians. Dear people of the Philippines: An elected government should not declare war and militarize against its own people. Historically, the use of force to address/prohibit non-violent, victimless activities has only ever produced negative results. Such a violent crusade against civilians invariably evolves into a full-blown civil war. It is now obvious (at least to the rest of humanity) that you have foolishly elected a psychotic despot for president. This means that you no longer have due process, constitutionally protected rights or fair trials in a public forum. Suspicion or rumor is now all that's required to terminate the life of any citizen. Nowhere on this planet has any nation ever had success with the policy of drug prohibition. Many of your villages, towns and cities will be turned into killing fields. Hundreds of thousands of you may now die. Your most precious institutions and possessions will be destroyed—but the drugs, the corruption and the violence will still be there and the world will finally realize how dangerous and utterly destructive prohibition really is. You are actually in the process of destroying your own society and nothing can change your fate. Every one of you is now vulnerable to deadly attack; world-wide drug prohibition has finally reached its inevitable conclusion. Thank you for helping to teach the world this powerful lesson with the blood of your own families!