THE Chinese Embassy in Manila yesterday said Beijing is ready to fully cooperate with Philippine authorities in its campaign against the operation of illegal offshore or online gambling in the country.
The embassy’s statement came two days after Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla bewailed the lack of cooperation of the Chinese government in expediting the deportation of Chinese workers who were arrested during the recent raids on illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hubs.
Remulla told the Senate that the lack of Chinese cooperation is hampering their efforts to expedite the expatriation of Chinese nationals.
“When we catch them in the POGOs, they don’t have passports or do not want to surrender their documents, so when we seek assistance from the People’s Republic of China they don’t necessarily rush to aid or provide us the documents. They take their sweet time to act on our request,” Remulla told senators, referring to illegal Chinese POGO workers apprehended by authorities.
But the Chinese embassy took exemption to Remulla’s statement and said it even helped Manila shut three illegal gambling zones and repatriated nearly 400 Chinese citizens after their identities were verified.
“The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines has maintained close communications and collaboration with the Philippine side in these operations to crack down on cross-border crimes and at the same time has protected the legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens in accordance with the law,” the embassy said in a statement, adding that “relevant agencies from both sides expressed satisfaction with the results of law enforcement cooperation.”
“Crimes induced by online gambling harm not only China’s interests and China-Philippine relations, but also the interests of the Philippines. It was discovered during the law enforcement cooperation that some illegal offshore gaming employees abused Philippine judicial procedures by fabricating cases in the Philippines to avoid repatriation. China is willing to further cooperate with the Philippines in dealing with such situations to ensure laws are enforced and justice served,” the embassy added.
At the same time, the embassy called on Philippine authorities to take strong measures to crack down on crimes related to the operation of illegal offshore gambling and “root out the social ills in a sweeping manner.”
“The Chinese Embassy in the Philippines will continue to strengthen communication and cooperation with the Philippine government and law enforcement agencies in this regard, and jointly handle repatriation among other related issues,” it said.
POGO operations in the country started in 2016 at the start of the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte and flourished over the years, as operators capitalized on Manila’s liberal gambling laws and haphazard implementation of regulations.
The controversy generated by the presence of Chinese nationals working in illegal POGOs hogged the limelight last year after Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri said he was allegedly told by Chinese Ambassador to Manila Huang Xilian that Beijing has placed the Philippines in its “tourist blacklist” due to the continued operations of POGOs.
The Chinese Embassy however labeled the report as a “misinformation.”
