THE Bureau of Immigration (BI) deported 98 Chinese nationals working in illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) last Feb. 25, it reported on Wednesday.
“As part of our intensified campaign, we have successfully deported a total of 98 Chinese nationals who were caught working for an illegal POGO company,” Commissioner Joel Anthony M. Viado said in a virtual briefing on Wednesday. “Last night, these individuals boarded a Philippine Airlines chartered flight to Xi’an, China.”
“This is part of a broader coordinated effort with the Chinese embassy to expedite the removal of foreign nationals engaged in illegal offshore gaming operations,” he added.
Out of the 98 Chinese, 91 were among the 450 apprehended during an operation in Parañaque City last January.
The immigration chief said they have arrested over 500 foreign nationals since January who were linked to illegal POGO activities in various operations across Parañaque, Pasay, and Cavite.
This latest deportation brings a total of 226 individuals sent back to their home countries.
“The Philippines will not be a safe haven for illegal activities. We are committed to enforcing our immigration laws and upholding national security,” he said.
Spokesperson Dana Krizia M. Sandoval, in the same virtual briefing, said the agency aims to arrest the remaining 11,000 illegal foreign POGO workers by mid-year.
“What we want — and for the majority of these cases — is to have them apprehended by mid-year,” she said in mixed English and Filipino. “We’re really targeting all of this within the year.”
In a statement, Beijing affirmed that this move marked further cooperation between the Philippines and China in combating illegal gambling activities.
“The Chinese government is committed to cracking down on gambling and relevant crimes and always asks overseas Chinese nationals strictly abide by local laws and regulations and do not engage in any illegal and criminal activities,” it added.
“We urge the Philippines to completely eradicate the scourge inflicted by offshore gambling as soon as possible. China will continue to work with the Philippines to jointly combat crimes,” it said.
About 3,024 foreign POGO workers have been deported out of 30,144, data from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) showed.
Meanwhile, a Senator said on Wednesday that the majority of foreign POGOs have remained in the country to supervise the changing of their operations to a smaller scale.
“Those POGO bosses, probably a lot of them, are still here. They haven’t come out yet. Because they are still overseeing the morphing of their POGO operations into smaller, guerrilla-like operations,” Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel said in a news briefing on Wednesday.
Ms. Hontiveros added that POGO bosses have reportedly been using travel advertisements to entice individuals to their scam operations.
“Of course, it’s difficult to be completely POGO-free right away because they’ve been here for at least nine years or eight years since the Duterte era,” she added.
There used to be about 300 POGOs throughout the country during its peak in 2019, according to PAGCOR.
According to a Senate Committee report, illegal financial activities and scam hubs have persisted despite moves to outlaw POGOs in the country.
Last year, President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. signed an executive order, banning POGOs due to their links to organized crime, such as human trafficking. This is in line with his policy directives during his third State of the Nation Address to shut down POGOs by the end of 2024.
Ms. Hontiveros suggested that the BI should coordinate with counterpart immigration agencies to monitor the deportation of foreign POGO workers.
She added that these agencies should ensure that these foreign POGO workers “actually arrive at their destination and do not detour somewhere.”
Several lawmakers have already urged the BI and other concerned agencies to hasten the deportation of foreign nationals previously engaged with POGOs. — Chloe Mari A. Hufana and Adrian H. Halili
