Legal kinks briefly halt search of Pampanga Pogo hub

The searched premises of Lucky South 99 are inside a 5.8-hectare complex with a total of 46 buildings, some of them visible in this photo. —PHOTO BY JUN A. MALIG

The operations of law enforcement agents in a complex housing a Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) in Pampanga were briefly halted after the local court that earlier issued a search warrant for the raid withdrew the document on a technicality.

Early on Friday, an official of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), the agency that led the raid, reported the court action that prevented law enforcers from reentering the premises of Pogo firm Lucky South 99.

In a radio interview on dzBB, PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio disclosed the withdrawal of the search warrant earlier issued by Judge Maria Belinda Rama of Malolos Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch No. 14.

Based on the warrant, a raid was launched on the complex on Tuesday night (not Wednesday, as earlier reported) and continued up to the following day.

‘Reexamination’

Based on documents obtained by the Inquirer, Rama issued the warrant around 7 p.m. on Tuesday, June 4, on the personnel of Lucky South 99 Outsourcing Inc. and other companies located at Grand Palazzo Royale complex at the border of Porac town and Angeles City, Pampanga.

According to Rama, after an examination of the warrant application by Police Maj. Bryan Salveron and witnesses from the Philippine National Police, particularly its Criminal Investigation and Detection Group-Anti-Organized Crime Unit, and two private complainants, the court found probable cause to believe that the respondents violated the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act.

READ: ‘Leakage’ suspected after many escaped Pogo raid

But in an order issued the following day, Rama said the search warrant was set aside after a “careful reexamination” showed that the court failed to specify the persons or items to be searched and seized.

Why in Bulacan court?

The reexamination was conducted after Salveron informed the court on June 5 that the warrant did not contain those specific details.

A hearing was held between 5 p.m. and 7 p.m. on the same day to again tackle the application. By then, the raid had already been carried out.

“From the testimony of the applicant and private complaining witness BBB, it was revealed that as early as yesterday even before the court has begun conducting the hearing on the application, the occupants of the subject premises sought to be searched have already fled by the masses,” Rama said in a three-page order dated June 5, which ultimately denied the application for a search warrant.

The court noted that the PNP filed the application for a search warrant before a court in Bulacan due to “fear that information of a possible search and seizure may leak to the respondents,” who are based in neighboring Pampanga.

“The court reviewed the application and found no compelling reasons were stated as to why it was filed in this court, and not in any court within those territorial jurisdiction a crime was committed,” Rama said.

She cited Rule No. 126 of the Rules of Court, which says an application for a search warrant may be filed in any court within the judicial region where the crime was committed if there is a “compelling reason” stated in the application.

As to the applicant’s concerns over a possible information leak, the Malolos court said it found “no sufficient evidence to prove the claimed likelihood of leaking information to the concerned individuals which will undoubtedly qualify as compelling reason for it to act and take jurisdiction over the application.”

By Friday night, the PNP and other local authorities were able to reenter the Pogo hub—this time using a search warrant issued by the San Fernando RTC in Pampanga, according to a GMA News report. Also on Friday, the Supreme Court said it would look into allegations that a “leakage” of PAOCC’s plan to raid Lucky South 99 allowed many—if not the majority—of its personnel to escape.

In a message to reporters, Supreme Court spokesperson Camille Ting said the high tribunal would “investigate these allegations” when asked for comment on Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian’s statement that Pogo operators might already be exerting an influence on the country’s judicial system.

At a press briefing on Thursday, Gatchalian noted that Lucky South 99 already had its license revoked but still managed to continue operations.

“Our information showed that this Pogo hub has a seating capacity of more than 1,000 agents so there’s 1,000 employees, but only 140-plus were captured,” he said, apparently citing the number of “rescued” workers reported by PAOCC.

“Apparently, when [PAOCC] filed a search warrant, its operators received a tip. So my hunch is that they have influence not only on enforcement agencies but also on the judiciary,” Gatchalian added.

It was Casio who first aired suspicions of a leakage in a media interview earlier on Thursday.

He then proposed that all members of the composite raiding team—from PAOCC, the Department of Justice, and various PNP units—be investigated, first by having their phones subjected to digital forensic examination.

PAOCC earlier said that 158 foreigners and 29 Filipinos were rescued during the raid. The foreigners included 126 Chinese, 23 Vietnamese, four Malaysians, four Myanmar nationals and a Korean.

But according to Casio, video footage obtained by the commission showed hundreds of other Lucky South 99 workers rushing out of their buildings, boarding vehicles and leaving the complex before the authorities arrived.

Risa lauds PAOCC

Also on Friday, Sen. Risa Hontiveros vowed to hold those behind the suspected leak accountable.

Hontiveros, who has been leading a Senate inquiry into Pogos’ alleged links to organized crime, commended PAOCC for the Pampanga raid and the ones before it.

“Indeed, wherever there is Pogo, there is crime,” Hontiveros said in a statement, citing Lucky South 99 as the latest example.

“It is unfortunate, however, that there seemed to be a leak prior to the operation. There are Chinese [nationals] who supposedly escaped before PAOCC arrived at the place,” she said.

Hontiveros said the matter would be included in her committee’s continuing investigation.

“We will get to the bottom of who is accountable … Anyone who conspires with Chinese syndicates will be liable,” said the senator, who earlier this week called on President Marcos to declare Pogos a “national security threat.”