The grim and disturbing news from the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission is that with the relentless government crackdown on illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, it appears that Filipinos have learned valuable lessons from their foreign, chiefly Chinese, mentors on various money-making scams and are now slowly but surely taking over the lucrative racket.
The rationale behind this recent phenomenon is not hard to fathom: If the Chinese and other foreigners can easily make the unwary and unsuspecting part with their hard-earned money, why can’t Filipinos do the same?
Here’s what PAOCC spokesperson Winston John Casio said on this latest development: “There are Filipinos who have been taking over some scamming operations, we are already seeing some of these, albeit a few small groups…That was something we have feared all along—that the time will come that Filipinos would become so adept with these Pogo activities that they will learn to take over the scamming operations from the Chinese.”
The PAOCC recently raided another suspected scamming hub in Biñan City in Laguna province. But operatives found dismantled computers at the New Wave Technologies facility said to be owned by Pogo “big boss” Lin Xunhan. Inspection of the site revealed that all of the computers had missing hard drives, indicating records of all their illegal activities have been removed.
The inter-agency task force is wasting no time in its efforts to wipe out all Pogo activities in the country by the end of the year, in compliance with the ban announced by President Marcos during his State of the Nation Address in July.
“The biggest challenge for us now is that a large number of Pogo firms have gone underground. So, there are a good number of them and we’re having difficulty catching up,” Casio said.
But while the number of internet gaming licensees (IGLs)—the rebranded name of Pogos—is now down to 38 and confirmed to have been winding down their operations, the task force continues to grapple with stopping the activities of “illegal” firms. The PAOCC estimates that about “50 to more than 100” illegal Pogo firms continue to operate in different locations in Luzon, the Visayas and Mindanao.
What is clear now is that the bigger Pogo hubs, with hundreds and thousands of employees, have disintegrated and have formed smaller groups and are occupying residential units, apartments, in order to escape the attention of authorities.
That Filipinos are poised to take over the illegal Pogos with the forced departure of foreigners is the challenge faced by the government now. This is what’s been described by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian as “evil” technology transfer by the Chinese Pogo operators. This requires even closer monitoring by our law enforcement agencies.
