Editor's note:
Oppenheimer: Mr. President, I feel I have blood on my hands. Truman: Do you think anyone in Hiroshima or Nagasaki cares who invented the atomic bomb? They only care about who dropped it, and that was me. Hiroshima has nothing to do with you.
Truman: (After Oppenheimer leaves) Don't let that coward come back here.
J. Robert Oppenheimer: Mr. President, I believe there is blood on my hands. Harry Truman: You think anyone in Hiroshima or Nagasaki gives a shit who built the bomb? You didn’t drop the bomb, I did. Hiroshima isn’t about you. Harry Truman: [after Oppenheimer leaves] Don’t let that crybaby back in here.
July 3, Philippines' Bureau of Immigration arrested two individuals wanted by their respective countries. The Director of the Immigration’s fugitive search unit, Norman Tansingco, stated they captured a Chinese and an American citizen in separate operations in Parañaque and Las Piñas in Metro Manila. The Chinese fugitive, 32-year-old Deng Hongfu, was wanted by the public security bureau of Chibi City, Hubei province, China, for operating illegal stock business since 2018. He arrived in the Philippines on March 8, 2019, and has not left since.
One
It's been over ten days since President Marcos Jr. banned online gambling. Although specific details and related policies are yet to be disclosed, the immigration department, as the vanguard, has already spoken out, requiring industry employees to expedite their visa cancellations and leave the country within a specified time.
This action by the immigration department is widely regarded as a "death knell" for the gambling industry. Many people cheered, imagining that once online gambling operators leave the Philippines, the series of crimes derived from this industry could be thoroughly eradicated, subsequently improving public safety significantly, ideally returning to the state before the emergence of the online gambling industry.
On July 2, 29-year-old Chinese fugitive Chen Xiao Bang, wanted for investment fraud, was arrested by the Immigration’s fugitive search unit in the La Paz community, Makati City, Metro Manila.
Whether the cessation of online gambling will fundamentally improve public security remains uncertain. The severe safety situation in the Philippines is not solely due to the existence of the gambling industry.
Even before the development of online gambling in 2015, and even before 2010 during the times of the Aquino administrations, the security situation in the Philippines was not particularly good. Local crime gangs and ineffective law enforcement were already "consistently operating", showing no mercy during robberies, remaining greedy during extortion, with frequent shooting incidents and rampant crimes no less prevalent than now. The motorbike riders brandishing cheap illegal firearms continued to pull triggers without hesitation, and law enforcement officers' bellies did not shrink an inch in the absence of nourishment from the online gambling industry back then.
On August 2, a robbery occurred in a Chinese restaurant in Parañaque, with one robber subsequently caught by police.
In recent days, videos of an armed robbery in a Manila Chinese restaurant circulated in WeChat groups and social circles, showcasing local criminals' long-standing tradition of conducting such crimes in Manila.
Expecting the gambling industry’s exit to fully improve the security environment in the Philippines and solve these long-standing issues is clearly unrealistic.
Even if the gambling industry were to completely exit, the persistent presence of widespread poverty, soaring unemployment rates, rampant gun violence, long inefficient investigative and judicial processes, and a multitude of lazy and corrupt law enforcement officers... these are still the fundamental problems affecting societal security. Even the most "iron-fisted" President Duterte struggled to tackle these issues, and none of the currently active politicians or contenders for the presidential seat seem to show enough potential or capability to address these challenges.
In April this year, the Philippine Department of the Interior and Local Government held a press conference announcing that since Marcos Jr. took office for 21 months, the crime rate in the Philippines had decreased by 64%. However, every Chinese expat in the Philippines feels that under Marcos Jr., the security situation has noticeably deteriorated compared to Duterte's tenure, with various severe crimes cropping up continuously. Our firsthand experiences often reflect reality more accurately than the government's glossy statistics. Duterte's anti-drug campaign, supposedly resulting in 30,000 deaths, significantly curtailed the occurrence of various crimes through its lawless execution style. Aside from personal experiences, the more lenient security policies implemented by Marcos Jr. only encourage criminal activity, leading to a worsening security environment. Therefore, the claimed 64% decrease in crime rate is a blatant lie, undoubtedly fabricated.
Two
The departure of the casino industry from the Philippines is unlikely to fundamentally improve security, but two severe crime phenomena brought about by online gambling—kidnapping and human trafficking—should diminish significantly with the industry's exit, especially human trafficking. This analysis is not mere speculation by the editor, but conclusions drawn by the Philippine police.
Last week, while chatting with some familiar police officers, we discussed a medical executive's kidnapping case from June and the brazen kidnappers. While specific details about some cases were not disclosed, according to the police, some kidnapping gangs have begun to kill among themselves due to disputes over loot, fears of being implicated, and concerns that their leaders may follow the gambling industry’s relocation. When eliminating a fellow gang member, they reduce the number of people sharing the loot and the chance of being arrested, showing no psychological burden when silencing their once "brothers-in-arms".
As for human trafficking, without fraudulent gangs%%*/
