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PNP-CIDG smashes covert POGO scam farm in Cavite

January 20, 2025 Alfred P. Dalizon 128 views

POGOTHE Philippine National Police (PNP) has dismantled a secret Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) facility-cum-‘scam farm’ inside a Silang, Cavite resort last week amid a directive by General Rommel Francisco D. Marbil to his men to continue monitoring similar facilities that may turn underground to engage in online fraud and other criminal activities.

PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director, Brigadier Gen. Nicolas D. Torre III said that following days of surveillance, his men led a raid on an illegal POGO facility in a resort in Brgy. Lalaan 2, Silang, Cavite.

The policemen also arrested 23 Chinese nationals and six other suspects from Myanmar.

The PNP-CIDG-led anti-illegal POGO operation came as Gen. Marbil ordered all police units nationwide to not let their guards down when it comes to monitoring and neutralizing POGO offices that may try to defy the order of President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. which completely banned POGO operations nationwide this year.

Brig. Gen. Torre said the successful raid was triggered by information provided to them by the owners of the Elijosh Resort.

At around 3:30 p.m. on Wednesday last week, members of the CIDG Regional Field Unit 4-A, joined by officers from the Cavite Police Provincial Office, the Bureau of Immigration, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and the Silang local government unit stormed the resort.

Prior to that, the PNP-CIDG received a report from the resort owners regarding suspected POGO operations being conducted by their lessee in November last year.

The lessee was reportedly endorsed by a certain ‘Olivia Miguel.’

The complaint revealed that there were around 50 to 60 foreign nationals, all believed to be Chinese and Korean nationals, entering the resort regularly carrying illegal gambling paraphernalia as well as desktop and laptop computers.

“We validated the information with the help of the resort owner and discovered that indeed, there were ongoing POGO operations in the area,” the PNP-CIDG director said.

In compliance with the directive of President Marcos Jr. and Gen. Marbil to go all-out against POGO facilities, the PNP-CIDG conducted the operation with their partner-law enforcement agencies targeting in particular one Chen Xiaboang.

“The operation resulted in the arrest of 23 Chinese nationals and 6 Myanmar nationals and the seizure of a large amount of evidence,” Brig. Gen. Torre said.

The 29 have been placed under the legal custody of the PAOCC pending their deportation proceedings which will be undertaken by the BI.

Official records showed that amid its intensified crackdown against POGOs involved in illegal activities in 2024, the PNP conducted a total of 16 operation, 11 of them by the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group; 4 by the National Capital Region Police Office and 1 by the Police Regional Office 7 in Central Visayas.

Those operations resulted in the arrest of 419 suspects who were all referred to the prosecutor’s office for arraignment. All accused are now undergoing trial.

The 2024 records also showed that police rescued 1,196 victims of the raided POGO hubs. Majority of them have been deported to their mother countries.

President Marcos has told the PNP top brass that there is a tendency that these POGOs may break into small groups and rent houses and apartments in gated subdivisions and small communities.

The PNP chief said their dedicated PNP Task Force Skimmer, which was specifically established to address POGO-related activities, “will spearhead efforts to dismantle illegal operations and ensure compliance with the Executive Order.”

He said that it is very possible that illegal POGO operators will be using their unscrupulous connections in the government and some law enforcement agencies anew to go underground in far-flung parts of The Philippines in the guise of building Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing (IT-BPO) companies that will provide livelihood to local folks.

Another possibility is that guerrilla POGO operators will try to move their former employees-hundreds or thousands of them-to remote parts of the country where they could build POGO establishments like those discovered in some parts of Metro Manila and Pampanga, Tarlac and Cebu provinces.

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