SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian early Wednesday said the Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) is capable of detecting scam hubs as senators raised concerns about Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) shifting to guerilla-type operations amid the ban ordered by President Marcos Jr.
Gatchalian, who defended in plenary the proposed 2025 budget of the DICT, said the agency’s Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center (CICC) is actively monitoring such underground operations.
In fact, he said, the CICC has “managed to apprehend” 11 scam hubs which are operating under the guise of legal firms, such as BPOs.
He told senators the DICT is willing to share its strategies to go after the illegal POGOs in an executive session.
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros, during the budget deliberations, said law enforcement agencies have found an “alarming trend” of POGOs engaged in “guerilla scam operations.”
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) has previously said that illegal POGOs have gone underground to evade being shutdown amid the President’s order to shut down all offshore gaming companies.
The President in his last State of the Nation Address ordered the closure of all POGO hubs due to crimes associated with their operation, such as kidnapping, proliferation of illegal drugs, torture, and trafficking, prostitution, among others.
During the Commission on Appointments (CA) hearing on his appointment, Interior Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla said he has directed local officials to exercise their visitorial powers in establishments that have been issued occupancy permits to ensure that they are not fronting for POGOs.
“The biggest disguise that they are going through now is that they are applying for resorts and restaurants,” Remulla said, citing as example the case in Lapu-lapu city in Cebu where authorities apprehended foreign workers working in an offshore gaming hub set up inside a resort. The foreigners used to work in a POGO hub that was earlier raided by authorities.
Remulla said mayors can visit establishments to “make sure that what is going on is exactly what is intended.”
“So, it is really up to a lot of mayors to when they issue business permits, occupancy permits, they have to inspect the premises and to make sure that what is intended for is happening,” he said.
He said it will not be hard for mayors to determine which establishments should be inspected since the PAOCC has given LGUs a list of POGO facilities in the country.
Meanwhile, Sen. Imee Marcos said displaced POGO workers who are victims of trafficking can avail of benefits from the Department of Social Welfare and Development’s (DSWD) Recovery and Reintegration Program for Trafficked Persons (RRPTP).
She said the RRPTP is a comprehensive program designed to ensure the effective recovery and reintegration of trafficking survivors, which include case management, direct service assistance, training, and temporary shelter support for both victim-survivors and witnesses of trafficking.
“Livelihood and skills-capability building of trafficked persons are the objectives of the RRPTP,” she said in Filipino.
