MANILA, Philippines — For Chinese nationals working in Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), with supposed millions of pesos in their pockets, residing in an upper-middle class subdivision is certainly not too shabby.
In a privilege speech on Tuesday, Senator Richard Gordon disclosed that hundreds of Chinese POGO workers have taken up residence in a known multinational subdivision in Paranaque, where as much as 200 of them occupying a single property.
Gordon further showed a video where Chinese POGO workers can be seen stepping out from “nice-looking” vans and into houses located in the subdivision.
“There’s one multinational subdivision that I can show you a video on that shows itong how POGOs affect us. Seventy percent of this subdivision is now occupied. Mind you, this is not a humble subdivision. It is upper-middle class,” he said.
“They are fetched by buses, nice-looking coasters, nice-looking vans,” he added.
In one video, a coaster fetched 21 Pogo workers and brought them to their residence in the Parañaque subdivision.
“Can you imagine the impact on water alone? There’s a water shortage in our country in Manila. E sa dami niyan, let’s say 400,000 POGO (workers), maapektuhan ang tubig natin, maapektuhan ang kuryente natin. Maapektuhan lahat, pati basura. So we do have a problem here,” Gordon pointed out.
“(In) another house, 50 yung katao dun sa bahay na yon,” he added.
He noted that some of the vehicles used by POGO workers are even marked with numbers.
“Their coasters are clearly marked. Which means it’s a very organized operation. Hiring buses, hiring cars, hiring vans — kumpleto talaga. Mas organized pa sa gobyerno. There are numbers on the buses. So you can see, it’s a highly organized operation, what’s the problem also is they even have a firing range inside,” said Gordon.
Several committee in the Senate is undertaking separate inquiries into POGO operations in the country.
Gordon is set to investigated the rise of Chinese money brought into the Philippines which he said could be used in an alleged multi-million money laundering scheme.