Police arrested 76 individuals, 63 of them Chinese nationals, engaged in illegal online gambling in Makati City on Tuesday.
A composite team from the National Capital Region Police Office, Makati City Police and Southern Police District raided room numbers 402, 403, 404, 405, 406 and 409 of a building situated at 8884 Obrero Street in Barangay Olympia.
NCRPO director Maj. Gen. Debold Sinas said they conducted the police operation following confidential information regarding an illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation (POGO) operated by a Chinese national named Xiao Bao.
Sinas said the foreigners have no license and necessary permits from the Makati City government and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation to establish and conduct gambling operation in the area.
Arrested were 63 Chinese nationals and 13 Filipino employees. Xiao, who was the main target of the police operation, managed to escape.
Prior to the raid, the NCRPO coordinated with local government and police officials to validate the information and conducted a surveillance operation. Officials of the Business Permit Office of Makati City certified that the establishment was not registered.
Sinas said the establishment also violated Pagcor’s policy suspending all POGO operations and its service providers for the duration of the enhanced community quarantine in Luzon to contain the spread of the coronavirus disease.
Recovered during the police operation were 75 pieces of laptop computers, 13 pieces of keyboards and mouse, 414 pieces of mobile phones, 51 pieces of internet modems, 11 Chinese passports, 23 pieces of Identification Cards, P115,200 cash, six boxes of assorted computer cable and wires, 42 pieces of white adaptor, one check booklet, three small boxes containing globe cellphone load cards, two computer desktop monitors with one speaker, and 126 Chinese Yuan.
Those arrested were brought to the police custodial facility at Camp Bagong Diwa in Bicutan, Taguig City for further investigation.
“We would like to reiterate our plea for cooperation from all the people in the Metro including our foreign friends who are staying here to please observe due compliance to all existing laws,” said Sinas.
The case was referred for inquest proceedings before the Department of Justice.
Makati City Mayor Abigail Binay had declared an indefinite moratorium on the issuance of new business licenses and permits to service providers of POGO due to rising criminality and prostitution in southern Metro Manila.
The city chief executive cited the “overheating” market for residential and commercial space and the rising criminality and prostitution as major reasons for her decision to stop more POGOs from operating in the country’s financial district.
Last year, NCRPO operatives arrested eight Chinese nationals for illegal online gambling, also in Makati.
The raiding team recovered a number of high-end computers and internet routers believed used in the illegal activity.
Also confiscated during the search were laptops, modems, cellular phones and passports.
In October 2016, authorities raided an online gambling den along Ayala Avenue, also in Makati, where at least 40 people, most of them Chinese nationals, were apprehended, also for alleged possession of illegal drugs.
The raid prompted the local government to check the establishment and later ordered its closure.
The Hao Ying Solutions, Inc. located at the 15th floor of Multinational Bancorporation Building was shut down following site inspection conducted by personnel of the city’s Business Permits Office upon the directive of Mayor Binay.
On the orders of Mayor Binay, BPO personnel checked its records and found out that the company was first registered in 2011 and its business permit was renewed last January 2016. However, its registered address was at the 21st floor of Tower I, Enterprise Center at Ayala Avenue.
Meanwhile, Senator Franklin Drilon on Tuesday said that the Philippine government stand to lose some P50 billion overdue franchise fees in classifying POGOs as business process outsourcing firms.
He warned that this would allow POGOs to skip the payment of license fees since BPOs are not required to pay franchise fees.
Drilon added that it was wrong to classify POGOs as part of the BPO industry.
“We were saying that we need to resume the operation of POGOs because we need money, so that’s questionable,” he said.
“Kung sasabihan natin silang pwede sila mag-operate dahil sila’y BPO e di hindi natin sila pwede kolektahan ng franchise tax o license fee na kinokolekta ng PAGCOR,” added the former justice secretary.
In a statement, the IT and Business Process Association of the Philippines said there are several key differences between POGOs and BPOs: BPO companies are registered with the Philippine Economic Zone Authority or the Board of Investments, while POGOs are registered with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation and POGOs are unable to practice their betting or gambling functions in their respective shores, while IT-enabled jobs BPO companies create a much higher value, requiring a range of technical, domain, and soft skills.
BPOs came to the Philippines making use of the country’s human capital, directly benefiting millions of Filipinos by providing them with better employment opportunities throughout the years.
“In the case of POGOs, majority of their staffing comes from foreign labor brought into the country to support their operations, it added.
Several senators had rejected the resumption of operations of POGOs, citing several concerns like the non-payment of P50 billion in taxes and health concerns amid the prevailing COVID-19 crisis.
Senate Labor committee chairperson Senator Joel Villanueva reminded PAGCOR chairman Andrea Domingo that there were only 2-3 POGOs which paid their franchise taxes.
He even said that PAGCOR itself admitted that 120 illegal POGOs operate in the country.
Villanueva said the Senate labor panel would likely conduct another hearing before they collate their findings and come out with a report.
Senator Risa Hontiveros, meanwhile, said it’s ‘a total dismay’ that the government brought back these POGO workers to their jobs rather than Filipinos who lost their work due to the pandemic.
She slammed the POGOs not only for their failure to pay taxes but also for involvement in cases of corruption, money laundering, and sex and human trafficking.
She also warned the resumption as a risk for public health and safety.
Senator Leila de Lima also blasted POGOs for evading the government billions of taxes since Day One. “So, how on earth can it “boost state funds” for COVID-19 response?”
She said the continuous operations of POGOs do not serve Filipino interest but instead ‘serve the interests of Chinese criminals.’
Senator Francis “KIko” Pangilinan, on the other hand, lamented the prioritization of the welfare of China in the guise of “boosting state funds” in the fight against Covid-19.
The senators earlier moved for the permanent closure of POGOs, but President Rodrigo Duterte insisted that the online gambling operators were clean.
There are over 60 POGO license holders and over 200 service providers in the country.