Local officials in areas hosting Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) may be charged with negligence for failing to curb the illegal activities, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission announced.
In a televised interview, PAOCC Executive Director Gilbert Cruz said negligent or complicit officials will be held accountable for failing to address the rampant presence of POGO activities in their jurisdictions.
“It cannot be denied that local government officials are aware of the presence of POGO operations in their areas,” Cruz said.
“The President has said that these POGO operations cannot exist without the knowledge of the local government, especially at the barangay level,” he added.
Cruz also warned property owners hosting underground POGO operations that they would face legal consequences, and even the possible seizure of their properties.
On Friday, Interior Secretary Juanito Victor “Jonvic” Remulla said he would ask the Parañaque City Local Government to explain why POGO operations still exist in the city despite a nationwide ban ordered by President Marcos.
“We will write to the LGU, ask them to show up, and also ask for an explanation of what really happened,” he said.
The secretary was reacting to the arrest on Wednesday of some 400 individuals, mostly foreign nationals, involved in POGO-like activities at a company located in Parañaque.
He assured DILG will file charges as well as initiate deportation proceedings against individuals arrested during the raid in Barangay Tambo.
“Deportations or cases to be filed,” Remulla said in a message to Manila Standard.
Meanwhile, a group of homeowners in a posh Parañaque City subdivision are convinced that illegal online gaming activities are clandestinely happening within their community despite the government’s total ban on POGOs and similar operations.
I AM MULTI, whose members are composed of Multinational Village residents, said they have compiled the addresses of 16 possible POGO locations within their sprawling subdivision.
In a letter to the Manila Standard, the group expressed willingness to participate in law enforcement agencies’ efforts to identify supposed “guerilla POGO” activities that defy the ban, which took full effect on January 1.
“The previous raids conducted indeed tamed down the excesses of Chinese activities in the village. However, we feel that they were coming back and are now more covert in their operations because of their volatile situation,” the residents added.
Of the 16 addresses the group suspects are housing secret POGO activities, three are located at Multinational Avenue (the community’s main road), four on Jerico Street, two on Philip Street, and two on Tel Aviv Street while the others are spread out across multiple streets within the residential village.
I AM MULTI co-convenor Janet Ong said that a list of these addresses was turned over to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and Santa Rosa Rep. Dan Fernandez late last year but the community still awaits results.
As this developed, leaders of the House Quad Committee welcomed a nationwide survey showing that an overwhelming majority of Filipinos support their efforts to uncover the truth and hold those involved in illegal activities accountable.
The poll, conducted by the Pulse Asia survey from November 26 to December 3, revealed that 61 percent of Filipinos favor the mega-panel’s probe into illegal POGOs, the illicit drug trade, land grabbing by some Chinese nationals, and alleged extrajudicial killings (EJKs) associated with the Duterte administration’s drug war.
“This is a clear mandate from the people to pursue justice and expose the truth behind these systemic abuses. We will not waver in our mission to hold powerful offenders accountable,” Quad Comm lead chairman Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, senior vice chairman Rep. Romeo Acop, and co-chairs Reps. Dan Fernandez, Joseph Stephen Paduano, and Bienvenido Abante said in a joint statement.
“This overwhelming support from the Filipino people strengthens our resolve to go after those responsible for these systemic abuses. The people demand justice, and we will not back down,” they added.