Pampanga Vice Governor Lilia Pineda ordered all mayors in the province to conduct “house-to-house inspections” to weed out illegal POGO hubs in their areas.
Pineda said she gave the order even before the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission announced it discovered small-scale “scam” hubs in Mexico and Bacolor towns.
“Even before PAOCC came out with its intel report, I have raised the alarm to all mayors in Pampanga to conduct an inspection – house-to-house – and check if there are still POGOs in their cities,” she said.
Pineda said the provincial government would also issue this week a resolution banning all POGOs in the province.
As this developed, Senator Risa Hontiveros on Monday said a former government official convicted in the multi-billion pork barrel fund scam was linked to the raided POGO hubs in Bamban, Tarlac and in Porac, Pampanga.
Hontiveros said the Senate will invite former Technology and Resource Center Deputy Director General Dennis Cunanan, saying documents showed he acted as an “authorized representative” for the Hong Sheng POGO in Bamban as well as the Lucky South POGO in Porac.
“Cunanan figured in one of the largest corruption scandals our country has ever seen. He might have applied to POGO what he did in PDAF. This also shows there’s a connection between the POGO operations in Bamban and the POGO in Porac,” the senator said.
Hontiveros, who is leading the inquiry into the participation of Bamban Mayor Alice Guo in POGO scam operations, renewed her appeal to ban the offshore gambling industry immediately.
“I call on my fellow public servants to join the growing call to ban POGOs now. We must show these POGOs that the Philippines does not have a price,” she said.
Earlier, Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr. said criminals posing as POGO hubs are national security concerns as the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission reported some 300 offshore gaming operators are illegally operating in the country.
“The concern is that we should stop these syndicated criminal activities operating out of our base, which weaken our financial standing, our country ratings, [and] corrupt our society,” Teodoro said.
PAOCC Usec. Gilbert Cruz said the 300 illegal POGOs continued to operate even as their licenses from Pagcor have already expired.
“When they felt that their license won’t be renewed anymore due to violations they are committing, they decided not to reapply…These entities don’t want to be regulated,” Cruz said.