According to authorities foreign nationals some illegal operators are involved in human trafficking
Following a drive to end Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators – POGO, which no longer have permits to operate as they have been revoked by PAGCOR – the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation. 175 POGOs employed about 40,000 Chinese nationals. 40 Foreign nationals were rescued during a POGO raid in Angeles City, at the beginning of the week.
According to Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin Abalos, the rescue operation was a result of the inter-agency commitment among PAGCOR, DILG, Department of Justice (DOJ), Philippine National Police (PNP), and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to put an end to the POGO-related kidnappings and human trafficking cases in the country.
Alongside the rescue of foreign workers, PAGCOR and DILG formally ordered the closure of the illegal POGO establishment in Angeles City. The rescued POGO workers will be turned over to the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for the checking of their documents and work permits.
Earlier in the day, PAGCOR also revoked the license of a POGO service provider in Pasig City – the Crimson Tulip BPO, Inc. – following the rescue of over 100 kidnapped and illegally detained POGO workers in Cainta, Rizal. The NBI together with the BI led the operations after they received a call from the Chinese Embassy, requesting for the rescue of Chinese nationals.
The NBI reportedly also rescued 70 Chinese, 44 Filipinos, 16 Vietnamese, 2 Taiwanese and 1 Malaysian who were allegedly forced to work in a fraudulent online POGO operations.
PAGCOR said that the license revocation of Crimson Tulip BPO, Inc. shows the state-run gaming firm’s commitment to help address all illegal POGO-related kidnapping cases, as these put the legitimate POGO operations in a bad light.
Since PAGCOR regulated the POGO operations in 2016, the industry helped the state-run gaming agency’s revenue generation efforts. Aside from this, regulated POGO operations created a multiplier effect on the revenues of various industries such as the real estate, food, transportation, construction, and telecommunication, to name a few.
Likewise, POGO-related taxes collected by the Bureau of Internal Revenue help the government’s revenue collection program, but amidst recent reports on kidnapping and human trafficking involving POGOs, PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco said earlier that if POGO-related crimes in the country are not abated, the consequences may affect even the legitimate POGO operators.
