Cardinal decries ‘painful irony’ in gambling laws after altar server’s death
Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David on Sunday decried the death of a 20-year-old altar server who contracted leptospirosis while looking for his father, who had gone missing last month and was found detained in a police station for allegedly violating a decades-old gambling law.
In a Facebook post, David said Dion Angelo dela Rosa or Gelo, a third-year human resource services student at Malabon City College, had waded through filthy, waist-deep floodwaters to search for his father who went missing on July 22.
Dela Rosa’s family eventually learned that their father had been arrested after he was allegedly caught playing kara y krus, a coin-toss betting game, in violation of Presidential Decree (PD) No. 1602, which penalizes illegal gambling.
“This law against illegal gambling, passed during the time of the late father of the current president of the Philippines in 1978, was said to be a protection for the poor against the vice of gambling,” David said.
‘Unequal treatment’
“Yet decades later, not a single major gambling lord has been arrested. The poor remain the only victims of this law—just like during the ‘tokhang’ days, when quotas on drug suspects became the ticket for promotion,” he lamented.
Supreme Court Senior Associate Justice Marvic Leonen previously said in his concurring opinion on a decision acquitting two individuals similarly caught playing kara y krus that PD 1602 is applied “unequally.”
Leonen noted how gambling in government-regulated casinos is allowed, while those playing small street games are arrested—a system that only targets the poor who cannot afford to gamble in licensed establishments.
“This unequal treatment of offenders on the basis of wealth is a blatant violation of the social justice clause [of the Constitution,]” Leonen said.
According to David, Dela Rosa’s father was later found handcuffed at a police station in Caloocan City. He had been arrested without a warrant, and despite his pleas, the police had refused to inform his family of his situation.
His bail, set at P30,000, was an “impossible amount” for Dela Rosa’s family, the cardinal said, leaving the son to brave dirty floodwaters every day to bring his father food.
Soon after, Dela Rosa developed fever and body aches, and sent word to the new Longos Mission Station church that he would not be able to serve at upcoming Masses. He was later found dead by his 3-year-old sister.
“On Sunday night, July 27, the young man who had been the pillar of hope for his family passed away. The cause: leptospirosis, a disease caused by rat urine in the dirty floodwaters he had waded through…,” David said.
‘Painful irony’
David questioned why the police would make an effort to arrest those playing kara y krus when anyone, including children, can now gamble anywhere and anytime online on their phones.
He also called out the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) for “being the biggest pusher of gambling addiction” for allowing online gambling supposedly to generate extra income for public spending.
“Here lies the painful irony: While the poor are being charged for playing kara y krus, we are powerless against the biggest operator of the gambling business today through online gambling: the government itself, through Pagcor,” said David.
In a July 7 pastoral letter, the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, headed by David, called on the government to ban all forms of online gambling, which it described as a “deep and widespread moral crisis” affecting the country.
Despite such calls from the Church, and from senators who have filed bills seeking to ban online gambling, the issue was not mentioned in President Marcos’ recent State of the Nation Address. The Palace said Mr. Marcos was still studying the matter.
