PAOCC targets zero POGOs in PH by end of 2025

By Joyce Ann L. Rocamora, Philippine News Agency

PAOCC Executive Director, Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz, during the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City on Feb. 15, 2025. (PNA photo by Joan Bondoc)

MANILA – The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said it is hoping to weed out all illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) by the end of the year.

At the Saturday News Forum in Quezon City, PAOCC Executive Director, Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz, said only more than a hundred POGOs are operating small-scale in the country after President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.’s total ban on POGOs, which took effect in January.

Only when the government stamps out all these operators could they declare “zero POGO” in the Philippines, Cruz said.

“Ang tinitignan namin, siguro within the year at least talagang totally ma-stop na namin or at least mabawasan na namin in a maximum scale itong operation ng illegal POGO dito sa atin (We are hoping that within the year at least, we will be able to totally stop or at least we will be able to reduce on a maximum scale this operation of illegal POGOs in our country),” he said.

From big POGO hubs, Cruz said, most of these operators are now doing business from apartments, condominiums, including from their rooms in hotels or resorts.

“Alam nila mainit na sila (but) they want to continue dahil malaki nga ang kita dito sa POGO operations (They know we are intensifying our drive against them but they continue their business because POGO earnings here are big),” he said.

The PAOCC earlier rescued 34 Indonesians from an alleged POGO hub in Pasay and arrested a Chinese woman named Liu Meng, two unidentified Chinese nationals, and one Malaysian.

The Indonesians, Cruz said, told authorities that they were coerced into working for a “fraudulent operation” in Pasay.

After suspending its activities on Jan. 21, the company intended to relocate to Cambodia.

However, when the Indonesians refused to migrate, their Chinese supervisors threatened to withhold their passports until they repaid a supposed loan, ranging from PHP50,000 to PHP100,000, Cruz said.

“Papunta ng Cambodia, ito kasi nakikita nila (operators) na medyo maluwag pa ang galawan ng operations doon, that’s why they want to shift from Philippine operations to Cambodia (The company is headed to Cambodia because it believes operating there is easier, so they want to shift their Philippine operations to Cambodia),” he said.

“We will be alerting, of course, the Cambodian authorities about this.”

A separate rescue operation this week also led to the recovery of a Chinese national identified as Wang Ye Fu, who was reported kidnapped on Feb. 12.

The Chinese, Cruz said, had visible torture marks and a review of the kidnappers’ mobile phones showed multiple videos depicting acts of torture against other foreigners.

He said one of them was at gunpoint while a woman was being tasered.

“Ganoon sila ka-daring, ganoon kalupit (That is how daring and cruel they are),” he said.

“Sa pag-aaral namin, noong una gumagamit sila ng Filipinos as kasama nila sa kalokohan – sa pangingidnap, sa pagpatay, sa pag-torture. Pero ngayon, sila-sila na lang. They have their own enforcers (Based on our observation, in the past, they would use Filipinos as their cohorts in kidnapping, killing, and torture. Now, they do it themselves. They have their own enforcers).”

Cruz said they have yet to identify all the victims in the video and urged families who have missing kin and suspect that they are working for an illegal POGO to contact the PAOCC to see if one of them is among those being tortured in the videos.