By Ritchie A Horario & Fatima Cielo B Cancel/Manila Times
Former president Joseph “Erap” Estrada has tagged his archrival and incumbent Mayor Alfredo Lim of Manila, as being behind the arrest of Vice Mayor Francisco “Isko Moreno” Domagoso, along with five other councillors for allegedly running a bingo operation.
Estrada, running against Lim in the May polls said that the order to arrest Moreno and the five councillors might have emanated from the higher-ups.
“According to policemen, the arrest was ordered by a higher-up. Who is that higher up? In Manila, he is the highest official,” Estrada told a news forum in the capital city.
The five councillors who were arrested together with Moreno, include Ernesto Isip Jr, Joel Chua, Ma Asuncion Fugoso, Yul Servo Nieto and former councillor Manuel Zarcal.
He maintained that Moreno and the five councillors did not violate any law, since bingo has been delisted as an illegal numbers game under Republic Act 9287.
“Itong (The) bingo, (was) legalized na ito dahil sa (under) Republic Act 9287. Bingo was delisted as illegal numbers game. Therefore, bingo is effectively legalised,” he said.
Because of this, Estrada said that their lawyers are still studying the possibility of filing charges against the policemen who hurt the people during the supposed dispersal operations.
For his part, Moreno said that only those policemen who caused harm to the people will be sued, particularly Inspector Eduardo Morata.
“We will only charge those policemen who hurt our people and violated laws,” he added.
Lim on Monday said that he would resign from his post if Moreno and the other five councillors could prove that he was behind their arrest over the illegal bingo activity in Tambunting Estate in Santa Cruz, Manila on Saturday.
At a press conference at the Manila City Hall on Monday, Lim staunchly denied his involvement and knowledge about the arrest. He challenged Moreno and his camp to provide evidence that would prove that he ordered their arrest.