MANILA, Philippines – Filipino Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David questioned a decades-old law against illegal gambling after the death of a 20-year-old man whose father was arrested for playing an outlawed street game.

Dion Angelo dela Rosa, a third-year college student, died of leptospirosis after wading in floodwaters to search for his father and later visit him in detention. He was an altar server in David’s territory, the Diocese of Kalookan in northern Metro Manila.

Leptospirosis is a bacterial disease that is often contracted through water contaminated by the urine of infected animals, such as rats. Cases of leptospirosis rise in the Philippines during the rainy season, when floodwaters submerge many parts of the country, especially poor communities.

David, president of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines, recounted how Dela Rosa searched for his father, who did not come home on July 22.

The cardinal said the family had no idea that the father had been arrested and detained without a warrant for violating a 1978 law against illegal gambling, signed by the incumbent president’s father, the dictator Ferdinand Edralin Marcos. The father had been accused of playing cara y cruz, an illegal coin toss betting game that is popular among the country’s poor.

David noted that the 1978 law “was said to be a protection for the poor against the vice of gambling,” yet decades later, “not a single major gambling lord has been arrested.” He said that the poor “remain the only victims of this law.”

The cardinal said that after 24 hours since his father had gone missing, Dela Rosa visited police stations across three different cities, “but no one could give them an answer.”

Dela Rosa, along with his grandmother, eventually found his missing father in a Caloocan City police station.

“His heart broke at what he saw: in a small room at the back of the station, his father and five other detainees were handcuffed together. He had gone missing on July 22 and was reported at all the police stations (which routinely share information with each other). But it was only on July 25 that the police admitted they had him in their custody and that he had already been charged on that same day,” David recalled.

The cardinal, a biblical scholar, called Dela Rosa’s story “a parable for our time.”

“Here lies the painful irony: while the poor are being charged for playing cara y cruz, we are powerless against the biggest operator of the gambling business today through online gambling: The government itself, through PAGCOR,” he said, referring to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), the government-owned and -controlled corporation that regulates the gaming industry.

“In the past, the government was strict about the public accessibility of gambling. By law, slot machines were not allowed in supermarkets and crowded places. Casinos even had to hire bouncers to check minors and those who could not prove that they earned at least P50,000 a month. Now, gambling can be accessed on every cellphone. Anyone can gamble in their bedroom, on a jeepney, or in bed — 24/7,” David said.

One “can even borrow gambling money from GCash,” a popular cashless payment system in the Philippines.

“Why would the police even bother arresting someone playing cara y cruz when even children can gamble on their phones before they learn how to multiply? If gambling is addictive, then the biggest pusher of gambling addiction today is none other than our own government through PAGCOR — supposedly to generate extra income for public spending,” the cardinal said.

David said Dela Rosa’s story should serve as a wake-up call, even for the Catholic Church.

“His story cries out to heaven — and to all of us. It shouts the question: how many more Gelos must die before we confront the systemic injustices that not only destroy livelihoods but also take the very lives of our fellow citizens?” he said.

“As a Church, we cannot close our eyes,” he added. “We cannot simply be sad and mourn at the wake. We must be the voice of those who have been buried in poverty, ignored by institutions, and silenced by fear.”

The 66-year-old David is one of the country’s staunchest critics of online gambling, whose various statements — including one signed on behalf of the CBCP — have prompted a detailed rebuttal from the CEO of PAGCOR.

During the Duterte administration, he was also one of the most vocal opponents of former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, which killed many in the Diocese of Kalookan. David earned the ire of Duterte, and faced a sedition case that was later dismissed.