More than one year ago, former finance secretary and lawmaker Margarito Teves warned before a Congressional hearing on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) cited the dangers of the continued operation of POGOs in the country.

Teves specifically said that POGOs have been involved not only in scams but in kidnapping and human trafficking.

“It puts Philippine economic recovery at risk. The Department of Finance has estimated losing P16 to 26 billion in foreign direct investments due to POGO-related crimes,” he said.
“While POGOs are estimated to have contribute P53 billion to the Philippine economy in 2022, their continued operations may put our bilateral relations with China at risk,” Teves said, adding that China remains among the top markets for Philippine exports.

The former lawmaker also said that from 2017 to 2019, 26% of POGO financial transactions were deemed suspicious, which can put at risk country’s credit rating that the government cannot afford given its tight fiscal position.

Unfortunately, nobody listened to Teves.

This, as the recent high profile raids of the POGO compounds in Bambam in Tarlac and Porac in Pampanga clearly reveal that POGOs are thriving in the Philippines, as both compounds housed numerous buildings and has luxury amenities like a swimming pool and mansion.

Also, Kaspersky has identified the Philippines as among the less developed Southeast Asian countries where love scams called “pig butchering” are conducted on a large scale by criminal syndicates.

“The secret to this success is that, in the vast majority of cases, it’s not individual scammers who are behind pig butchering, but large criminal groups. These organizations run huge fraudulent “farms,” most often located in the least prosperous countries of Southeast Asia. Such farms exist in Laos and the Philippines, but most farms are in Cambodia and, above all, Myanmar, where a civil war has been going on for several years,” Kaspersky said in its website.

Kaspersky also said that Myanmar and Cambodia host a big number of so called “scam farms,” which the United Nations (UN) finds disturbing.

“The overall scale of the problem is extremely serious. A report last year by the UN Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, citing reliable sources, gave the following figures: at least 120,000 people are employed in scam farms in Myanmar, and approximately another 100,000 in Cambodia,” it added.

GATCHALIAN BLAMES PAGCOR

And as to how such scam farms disguised as POGOs are able to thrive can be one disgusting fact, as the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) seemed to be unaware of what type of illegal activities were being conducted at POGOs.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, who is sounding the alarm over the proliferation of POGOs in the country, called out PAGCOR’s “blatant failure” in stopping illegal POGO operations in the country.

“The reason why POGOs are still prevalent today is because PAGCOR only removes the license, but it does not cancel the employment permit given to workers. There is no proper regulation. That’s why POGOs are happy in the Philippines,” he added.

Gatchalian added that the Lucky South 99 POGO site in Porac was connected to a company licensed by PAGCOR, and that the Zun Yuan POGO hub in Bamban had a provisional license. The senator added that PAGCOR also “found no irregularities” when it inspected the Bambam POGO hub at least two days before the firm was raided.

In fairness to PAGCOR, however, the agency said that it believes some 250 POGOs operating in the country without a license may be involved in illegal activities.

As for local officials, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) has already filed human trafficking charges against Bamban Mayor Alice Guo, who has been under fire for her supposed links to the POGO hub in her locality.

The human trafficking charges stemmed from the raid of the POGO in Bamban, which revealed there were a number of nationals from some Asian countries working against their will.

“We have additional cases being prepared this week, maybe up until next week. When we have completed the documentary requirements, the complaint affidavit and all, we will also file the case with the DOJ (Department of Justice),” said PAOCC spokesperson Dr. Winston John Casio.

Notably, the POGO hub raided at Bamban was located near the municipal hall where Guo held official office.

CALL FOR TOTAL BAN

Fortunately, the outrage over POGOs is reaching a boiling point in the country and there are calls to ban them totally.

Surigao del Norte 2nd District Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, who as early as 2017 warned of the illegal activities of POGOs in the Philippines, said that China even banned POGOs.

“These POGOs that are banned in mainland China only brought more crimes and shame to our country. Whatever benefit we got from them is nothing compared to what they have put us in. The social costs keep mounting and no amount of taxes or perceived jobs can outweigh them,” said Barbers, chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs.

Gatchalian also warned of POGOs reportedly getting the support of corrupt politicians and people in the government, and local criminal syndicates, which will make it hard for the government to control the people directly behind POGO operations.

“After the first part of the executive session, I was horrified because our intelligence agencies confirmed what we were afraid of, that the root of this POGO is getting deeper. Deep, that is, their influence extends to politicians, enforcement agencies such as the police, the Bureau of Immigration, and thirdly, they mentioned that local criminal syndicates are already involved,” Gatchalian said in Filipino, referring to the executive session held after one of the Senate hearings on the issue.

“What I fear is that it might reach a point where we can no longer control them, and they will be ones controlling our government because there are people who are already in their payroll,” the senator said.

Read the first part of this three-part series at https://filobserver.wpcomstaging.com/2024/06/18/current-ph-probe-are-pogos-operating-in-ph-into-pig-butchering/ titled: Are POGOs operating in PH into ‘pig butchering’

Read the second part of this three-part series at https://filobserver.wpcomstaging.com/2024/06/20/current-ph-probe-your-online-love-partner-may-be-a-scammer/ titled: Your online love partner may be a scammer