A source within the labor department believes that the mastermind behind the assassination of Helen Dacanay could be involved in the controversial Pogo business, and not just because of a personal spat the victim had with an alleged loved one.

Two motorcycling gunmen shot and killed Dacanay while her companion, a labor arbiter whose name was withheld pending investigation, escaped unscathed. Dacanay had just come from the National Capital Region (NCR) office in Malate and was entering General Malvar street in Malate from Taft avenue when the gunmen appeared and pumped bullets into her body.

Labor secretary Silvestre Bello III who just came from abroad, immediately condemned the killing. He urged police to investigate and prosecute those responsible for the labor official’s untimely and dastardly death.

Requesting anonymity, the source says Dacanay was known to be a “stickler of the law” when it comes to employment permits. As a senior labor and employment official, Dacanay was handling not just briefings on labor relations, but also in processing of employment permits.

” It is possible that the victim encountered someone who is involved in processing of special labor or employment permits linked with the pogo business. She must have given that person a hard time,” says the source.

Pogo has become a huge business in the Philippines, with hundreds and even thousands of foreign workers, mostly Chinese, apply for employment permits to work on hundreds of pogo or online gaming firms in the country. Due to the sudden influx of foreign workers, some labor department officials responsible for processing of permits take their time dispensing permits for pogo workers.

A Chinese national is given a sixty day travel visa. Foreign tourists are forbidden to work in the Philippines without a special working permit.