Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” F. Zubiri (File photo / Senate PRIB)
Senators on Monday raised suspicion that the foreigners arrested for allegedly kidnapping and killing a Chinese-Filipino businessman last week were linked to Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), with Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri pointing out that similar incidents had happened before.
Zubiri called on the Philippine National Police to look into the possibility that a Vietnamese and three Chinese nationals held for the kidnapping and slaying of Mario Uy had been previously involved in Pogo-related crimes.
The anticrime group Movement for Restoration of Peace and Order earlier said that the victim’s body bore torture marks.
It said the 62-year-old hardware store owner from Quezon City was apparently tortured and killed “the same way the Pogo syndicates treat their victims.”
“It is not impossible that these suspects are connected to the gangs involved in the Pogo industry,” Zubiri told the Inquirer.
“The horrific torture-slay of Mr. Uy is certainly not far from accounts of violence that has transpired in the Pogo industry, and so I urge the PNP to look into this possibility,” he said.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros said she would not be surprised if Uy’s killing was related to Pogos, noting that crimes such as this had become prevalent among individuals behind the Chinese-run online gaming industry as admitted by law enforcement agencies during the Senate hearings.
“Our committee also found that kidnapping is one of the ways some Pogo actors use to generate more income… That’s why it’s not far-fetched that the kidnap-slay of (Uy) was Pogo-related,” Hontiveros said.
Pogos, she added, were also linked to cases of prostitution, tax evasion and illegal detention.
Hontiveros urged Malacañang to support the proposal of the Senate ways and means committee, headed by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, to shut down Pogos, which sprouted during the Duterte administration.
Gatchalian had said that he was optimistic that President Marcos would back the position of his own economic team, which had proposed to put an end to the Chinese-owned offshore gambling businesses. INQ