China to keep hands off PH’s crackdown vs illegal POGO – Duterte
MANILA, Philippines — China will not interfere with the country’s crackdown against illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO), President Rodrigo Duterte assured Monday.
Duterte said China “understands” the country’s enforcement system should there be a need to deport or arrest Chinese nationals, recalling a recent meeting with Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian.
“First, I talked about maybe the support we need from China if the Middle East Crisis goes on, and even the former ambassador and the ambassador said that if you must do it because the law is the law,” Duterte said in an interview aired Monday over dzMM’s “Failon Ngayon” when asked about any word from the Chinese government regarding POGO regulation in the country.
“And that if there is a need to deport, arrest, then they’re keeping their hands away from all these things. You have [the] prerogative to do what you want to enforce the law. In fairness to Chinese government, they understand,” he added.
China had earlier asked the Philippine government to “punish” POGOs, casinos, and other forms of gambling entities illegally recruiting Chinese citizens.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila noted a number of Chinese citizens had been illegally recruited to work in the Philippine gambling industry with some “even lured into and cheated to work illegally with only tourist visas.”
“If you add more to this number presently operating, you will not be able to police them all. So you have to set a number for that. It cannot be in every town and city about so many POGO games going on,” Duterte noted.
