THE Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) is eyeing possible charges against some local officials in Pasay City over the continued operations of the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) there.
PAOCC director and spokesman Winston Casio, in a briefing in Malacanang, said they are also investigating local government officials of Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu in connection with previous POGO-related raids.
Casio said the PAOCC is also looking into reports that some POGOs are still operating in Paranaque and Makati but no raids have so far been conducted in the two cities.
He said the PAOCC is doing a case buildup against some Pasay LGUs as the city has been the “location of most of the illegal POGOs.”
He said an investigation is underway to determine the possible culpability of LGU officials in Pasay City following the series of POGO raids.
Casio said the first raid that PAOCC conducted in Pasay City involved SA Rivendell, followed by Zun Yuan Technology, Kimberhi Technology and another POGO hub “inside (the) Her-itage Hotel.”
He said there is also an ongoing forfeiture petition for Smart Web Technology also based in Pasay.
“We’re conducting an investigation, together with the Depart-ment of Justice and the DILG (Department of Interior and Local Government) on the possible culpability of the LGU officials of this particular city, Pasay City,” he said.
Casio said among those being looked at is the criminal culpabil-ity of those involved in the issuance of mayor’s permits and the Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO) certificates.
“So, we have not yet reached a conclusion, together with the Department of Justice and the DILG, on how to proceed, but the case build-up is already ongoing. It’s there,” he added.
Asked about the possible case against Heritage Hotel, Casio said they are looking into the hotel management’s criminal lia-bility.
“We will definitely do a case build-up against the Heritage Ho-tel and its administration, its owner, so to speak,” he added.
OTHER LGUS
Casio said case build-ups are also ongoing against LGU offi-cials where the POGOs previously operated or continued to op-erate.
He said graft cases had been filed against Porac Mayor Jing Capil and nine other LGU officials, apart from the cases filed against dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Leal Guo.
He said the PAOCC is contemplating filing graft charges, quali-fied trafficking in persons and environmental crimes against some other government officials and employees of the Bamban LGU.
“With regards to the other LGU officials that we are investigat-ing together with the DILG, we’re investigating the LGU of Lapu-Lapu City where the Tourist Garden Hotel was located. That’s the city mayor of Lapu-Lapu city, Mayor (JunarD) Ahong Chan, and other officials of his LGU,” Casio said.
“Likewise, we are doing case buildup against some local chief executive here in the Metro, because a good number of the PO-GO that we raided in the last few months were located here in Metro Manila,” he added.
Casio said as of February 14 this year, PAOCC has filed 12 cas-es in court against some POGO personalities, 13 cases are in the preparatory stage of filing, and eight cases are undergoing pre-liminary investigation.
Bureau of Immigration (BI) spokesperson Dana Sandoval, in the same briefing, said the latest trends showed that there are “smaller groups” that are currently operating as illegal POGOs in some gated communities like condominiums and residences.
Sandoval said based on the BI data, around 11,254 foreign PO-GO workers are still in the Philippines who had defied the gov-ernment’s directive to leave the country following the indus-try’s closure in 2024. She said they would be subjected to de-portation once arrested.
She said among the remaining foreign POGO workers are most-ly Vietnamese, Chinese, Indonesian, and Burmese.
“Around 11,254 are still in the Philippines. All those who have not complied with the requirement have been included in our derogatory records and are facing deportation charges. Upon deportation, subjects are included in our blacklist,” she added.
Sandoval said that based on records of the Philippine Amuse-ment and Gaming Corporation’s (PAGCOR) list, there are around 33,863 foreigners employed under registered POGOs or internet gaming licensees (IGLs) but 22,609 of them have al-ready left the country. Those who remained are “illegal aliens.”
Sandoval said 518 foreign POGO workers have been arrested since the BI started holding operations against illegal POGOs this year with 121 of them having been deported.
She said operations are ongoing against other illegal POGO for-eign workers even as the BI is facing certain challenges like a limited detention facility as the current BI facility in Camp Ba-gong Diwa in Taguig can only hold 100 persons.
She said the BI had to rely on the help of PAOCC, the PNP, and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to detain the POGO detainees.
She said efforts are underway to come up with a bigger holding area.
Sandoval said another challenge is the meal budget limitation of P70 per head which sometimes prompts other agencies hold-ing the detainees or even the detainees themselves to spend for their food.
Casio said the PAOCC has spent over P210 million in the past two years for the detention of POGO workers arrested since the crackdown began in 2024.
He said PAOCC spends about P35 million every four months for the food, water, electricity, security and administrative costs for POGO workers awaiting deportation.
ASIAN POGOS
Sandoval also raised alarm over the rising number of Filipinos leaving the Philippines to work for POGO-like companies in other Asian countries like Cambodia, Myanmar and Laos.
She said 118 Filipinos have been recruited to work in “scam hubs” posing as business process outsourcing (BPO) companies.
She said scam hubs are targeting Filipinos working in the BPO and POGOs who are offered customer service representative positions.
She said some of the recruited Filipinos are aware of the nature of their work and opted to take the risk because of good offers such as a P50,000 monthly salary along with free tickets, ac-commodation, food, and hygiene kits.
Sandoval said once the Filipino workers arrive at their destina-tion, their passports are immediately taken and they are forced on a boat to cross borders and taken to hubs or compounds hid-den in jungles which usually operate a BPO center and hub for scam operations.
She said Filipinos working for the regular BPO are “lucky,” un-like those working for scam hubs who get “beaten” if they do not meet the regular quota.
She said those who want to leave are required to pay a “debt bondage” from P400,000 to P500,000 which covers their “cost of recruitment.”
