FIVE more individuals arrested in a raid early last month on a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) facility in Pasay City pleaded not guilty during their arraignment yesterday on charges for violation of the Securities Regulation Code in relation to the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
Lawyer Gloria Quintos, who is serving as the lawyer of 18 out of the 29 accused, said the five pleaded not guilty before Branch 111 of the Las Piñas City Regional Trial Court.
“The arraignment of the five which was deferred previously took place and then we proceeded with the pre-trial conference of the case,” Quintos said, adding the arraignment was made through videoconference.
Quintos said the trial will start on September 27, with the prosecution scheduled to present their witnesses before the court.
With yesterday’s proceeding, there are now 28 POGO workers who have already been arraigned and have entered not guilty pleas.
One of the POGO workers has been reported missing after fleeing the Pasay facility, that also served as their temporary detention site.
Earlier, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has already formed tracker teams to go after the missing POGO worker.
In filing the charges, state prosecutors said the NBI uncovered evidence that the said POGO facility is involved in fraudulent activities, including cyber-related scams.
Remulla previously said around 28,000 registered Subscriber Identity Modules or SIM cards were recovered in the Pasay raid, which he said could have been used in online scams.
Aside from the SIM cards, authorities also seized hundreds of phones and other devices allegedly used for illegal activities.
Papers containing what seems to be scripts for love scams and devices for text blasts were also recovered in the hub.
