The Department of the Interior and Local Government in Western Visayas (DILG-6) reminded village officials of their role as public servants, who should set an example by obeying the law.

“Para sa mga kapitan, kayo dapat ang huwaran ng public service. You should abide by the law. No one is above the law. Even if you are an official, you should obey kung hindi, hahabulin kayo ng batas,” DILG-6 Director Juan Jovian Ingeniero said in an interview in Bacolod City yesterday.

The DILG official was responding to a query related to the criminal charges of illegal gambling, specifically the illegal operation of the Small Town Lottery, filed by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Bacolod against three barangay chairperson on March 8.

He said that village chiefs represent the government in their barangays and should always follow the law, although he acknowledged that not all barangay officials are violators.

“Majority of them are good public servants. ‘Yung mangilan-ngilan na nakakalimot, we will make sure that we will advise you. Our people will talk to you to remind you of your role and function as public servants,” Ingeniero said.

Charged by the NBI-Bacolod before the Kabankalan City Prosecutor’s Office were Noli Villarosa, chair of the city’s Barangay Tangub, as well as Joel Alibango of Barangay 5 and Franz Leonard Siguero of Barangay 6 in Kabankalan City.

NBI-Bacolod agent-in-charge Renoir Baldovino said Villarosa has been identified as the “financier” while Alibango and Siguero, as “protectors.”

Villarosa denied the charges, saying he has no involvement in illegal gambling and is willing to be investigated.

Baldovino said the criminal charges for violation of Presidential Decree 1602 as amended by Republic Act 9287, which penalizes persons involved in illegal numbers games, are supported by the testimony of the village watchman and the bet collectors arrested during an entrapment operation last February 15 in Kabankalan. (PNA)