Collaborative efforts

Egay Uy .

THE Regulatory and Complaint Board (to be renamed into Regulatory Compliance Board) has started collaborative talks with Pueblo de Oro Development Corp. through its vice president and general manager, Mr. Chrysler Acebu, for more effective regulation of businesses in the Pueblo area.

The collaboration will complement the actions already taken by the Pueblo de Oro management in protecting minors from watering holes and to ensure that businesses operating in that area in uptown Cagayan de Oro will continue to be compliant with local laws and ordinances.

The RCB hopes the collaboration and succeeding joint operations will go a long way towards business regulation and protection of minors.

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Gambling should be strictly regulated.

In the case Tan vs. Perea, G.R. No. 149743, Feb. 18, 2005, the Supreme Court had the occasion to rule, citing Presidential Decree No. 449, the Cockfighting Law of 1974, that “cockfighting should neither be exploited as an object of commercialism or business enterprise, nor made a tool of uncontrolled gambling, but more as a vehicle for the preservation and perpetuation of native Filipino heritage and thereby enhance our national identity.”

The SC continued, that “the obvious thrust of our laws designating when cockfights could be held is to limit cockfighting x x x.   Limitation on the number of cockpits in a given municipality is a reasonably necessary means for the accomplishment of the purpose of controlling cockfighting, for clearly more cockpits equals more cockfights.”

With the foregoing pronouncement of the Supreme Court, it is with more reason that other forms of gambling should be strictly regulated. As of this writing, it appears from the business registry books of the city that there are about seventy billiard tables being used in the city, and fifteen establishments engaging in e-games, online gaming, and bingo.

Add to that at least seven poker tables, and 21 mah-jong parlors with at least 34 tables.  As to cockpits, well, there are a few being operated in the city.

We have also received reports about “hantakans” are being operated, of course illegally, in certain areas of the city. While this no longer falls squarely under the jurisdiction of the Regulatory Compliance Board, we have conducted a series of operations against these gambling activities and we have asked the local police precincts to take over.

I could only hope they aggressively will.

(Egay Uy is a lawyer. He chairs the city’s Regulatory and Complaint Board, co-chairs with the city mayor the City Price Coordinating Council, and chairs the city’s Joint Inspection Team. He retired as a vice president of Cepalco.)