THE PNP is looking into the possible liability of the director of the Central Luzon police regional office in the illegal operations of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) hub in Porac, Pampanga that was recently raided by operatives of the police and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime (PAOCC).
“We are also investigating the regional director,” PNP chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil told a press briefing yesterday at Camp Crame, referring to Brig. Gen. Jose Hidalgo Jr.
Marbil said there are information that some “reports were not acted upon properly” by Hidalgo but did not elaborate.
“We put accountability on our regional director, especially on issues such as this,” said Marbil, adding: “We are conducting an investigation (because) we really need concrete (evidence before we can hold him accountable).”
The chief of police of Porac town and the director of the Pampanga provincial police office have earlier been relieved so police can determine if there was negligence on their part that led to the operation of the POGO hub Lucky South 99 even without a permit.
The license of the firm was canceled by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) in October last year. The firm applied for another permit but this was denied with finality last May.
Authorities raided the POGO earlier this month after receiving reports that it was engaged in illegal activities such as human trafficking and prostitution. The operation led to the rescue of nearly 200 foreign and Filipino workers.
In one of the raids on the PORAC facility, operatives seized Chinese military uniforms, which PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director Maj. Gen. Leo Francisco said “appear to be souvenirs” used by the Chinese nationals at the POGO hub.
“But we are not discounting the possibility why the these military uniforms are there,” said Francisco. He did not elaborate.
Meanwhile, PAOCC spokesman Winston John Casio said one of the managers of the raided POGO hub in Porac was apprehended in Davao on Sunday while about to leave the country.
“It’s true it has created a chilling effect,” said Casio, referring to the campaign against illegal POGOs. “In fact, yesterday we arrested a manager from (Lucky South 99) Porac,” he said.
Casio described the manager as a “person of interest” in the continuing investigation on the POGO hub.
“We were able to offload him from the immigration yesterday while about to leave the country. Of course, we are on alert… so we were able to arrest him in Davao yesterday (Sunday),” said Casio.
Casio said they are going to ask a court to allow the PAOCC to break open the vaults that were found inside the POGO hub and ask permission to examine the data from computers and devices that were also recovered from the firm.
Also, Casio said the PAOCC is preparing additional charges against Bamban mayor Alice Guo who had been initially charged with human trafficking in connection with operation of the raided POGO hub in Bamban.
“We’re fairly confident that two or three days from now, we will be able to file the additional cases against the mayor,” said Casio.
Casio said they are looking into the involvement of Guo in the operation of the POGO hub in Porac.
“We believe she is part of a criminal organization that operated both (firms),” said Casio.
PORAC MAYOR
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian yesterday said that the mayor of Porac, Pampanga should be suspended, while barangay officials be held accountable for their failure to detect the illegal activities of the Lucky South 99.
Gatchalian said he will talk with Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) so they can make the recommendation for the suspension of Mayor Jaime Capil to the Office of the Ombudsman.
“We have to bring it to the Ombudsman, and ako ang magre-recommend sa DILG na tignan din ang accountability ng mayor sa Porac dahil nakikita natin na merong negligence dahil pinabayaan niyang mangyari ito sa kanyang lugar. Kung naging proactive siya ay dapat hindi na umabot sa ganito kalaki (We have to bring it to the Ombudsman, I will personally recommend to the DILG to look into the accountability of the mayor of Porac because we can see that there is negligence on his part. If only he had been proactive, this would not have happened),” Gatchalian told reporters in a chance interview when he and officials of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission conducted an ocular inspection of the POGO hub.
He said he found as not acceptable the Porac mayor’s reason that they were not able to check on what was going on inside the facility because they were not allowed by the POGO management to conduct an onsite inspection, stressing that local government unit heads, such as the mayors, has the power to inspect facilities even without a court order.
“Ang mayor may malawak na kapangyarihan yan na mag-inspeksiyon ng sanitation, electrical, general welfare ng public. Sabi ng provincial government ng Pampanga hindi raw sila pinapasok eh dapat red flag na yan. Hindi dahilan ang ‘di ka pinapasok, lalong hindi dahilan na hindi ko alam
(The mayor has vast powers. He or she can inspect the sanitation, electrical, since it concerns the general welfare of the public. The provincial government of Pampanga said that the mayor’s team was not allowed to enter the POGO hub. So, that itself should be a red flag. It is unacceptable that they will say that they were not allowed to enter, and the more that it is unacceptable if they will say that they do not know of such activities inside),” he said.
He said what matters now is who will be accountable for the existence of illegal activities in that raided POGO center in Porac.
“Para sa akin hindi puwedeng alisin ng LGU ang kanilang accountability. Hindi puwedeng alisin ng barangay ang kanilang accountability lalo na sa ganitong scheme dahil 2,000 na mga dayuhan ang pumapasok at lumalabas at hindi ka pinapasok sa lugar ay dapat magduda ka na (For me, the LGU cannot be free from accountability and so are the barangay officials because more than 2,000 foreigners are getting in and out of that facility, and the mere fact that they were not allowed to enter should be a reason for them to be suspicious),” Gatchalian said.
OCULAR INSPECTION
Basing on what he saw during the ocular inspection of Lucky South 99, Gatchalian said the Porac facility is the “most brutal, most violent, and biggest” POGO hub, pointing out that there was strong evidence that prostitution, torture, scamming, and illegal detention, among others, were committed there.
He said there were more than 2,300 desktop computers which means that there are the same number of employees involved in scamming operations. Also, text blasters were also found in the facility.
He said that during the June 4 operation, only around 160 individuals were accounted for, thus, more than 1,800 employees have escaped.
Gatchalian said he also learned that the Porac hub started construction in 2019, almost the same period when the Bamban, Tarlac POGO facility also started construction.
He said the construction continued even when the government declared a state of emergency due to the COVID-19 pandemic on March 2020, which disallowed any construction of facilities to prevent the spread of the disease.
He said PAOCC and other law enforcement agencies are gathering more evidence that will link Bamban Mayor Alice Guo with the POGO operations in Porac, Pampanga.
Gatchalian said the way the Bamban and Porac POGOs were ran were almost the same — both do not allow their employees to go out of the facility, and the masterminds are living in style inside the compound as evidenced by the KTV rooms, private rooms, and villas.
He said the investigation conducted by the provincial government of Pampanga is comprehensive that they will “take off” with that when the Senate continues its inquiry on the crimes related to the POGO industry on Wednesday.
A representative of PAOCC said a certain Cassandra Ong and an individual known only as Dela Cruz were linked in the operations of the POGO hub in Porac.
The PAOCC said Lucky South 99 has been under surveillance since April this year after receiving reports of illegal activities.
The PAOCC said Lucky South 99’s permit to operate was only until 2023 but it continued to operate even after the license was canceled.
“Pagcor is receiving remittances dapat alam ng Pagcor na nag o-operate siya… Definitely, may operations, sabi nga nila Usec Casio imposibleng hindi mo ma-detect dahil may ilaw, may pumapasok at lumalabas na sasakyan, may delivery ng pagkain (We have to check if there are transactions between October 2023 to June 2024. Pagcor continued to receive remittance and it knows that the POGO hub is still operating… Definitely, the operations continued because as what PAOCC spokesman Winston Casio said, it is impossible to detect [if it is operating] because the lights are open, vehicles and going in and out, and there are food deliveries),” Gatchalian said.
Another proof the POGO hub continued to operate was its electric bill for the month of May which reached P35 million.
Gatchalian said he wants to find out the accountability of the LGU, PAGCOR, who are behind the POGO operations, and who are those giving POGO officials “advance information” when the Senate resumes its hearing on the matter.
He reiterated his call for a total ban of POGOs. — With Raymond Africa
