IN CUSTODY At least 162 foreigners are taken into custody on Saturday by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in connection with an illegal online gaming hub uncovered to be operating in a resort at Barangay Agus, Lapu-Lapu City. —Photo from BI
MANILA, Philippines — At least 162 foreign nationals were taken into custody by the Bureau of Immigration (BI) after their presence were found on Saturday in a resort in Lapu-Lapu City on Mactan Island in Cebu that was hosting an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub, the first to be discovered in the province.
It was the first time that an illegal Pogo hub raid was conducted in the province after President Marcos declared a nationwide ban for the online gaming operation during his State of the Nation Address on July 22.
In July, the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) said there were no active Pogos in Cebu, with PRO-7 spokesperson Lt. Col. Gerard Pelare saying that the five illegal hubs monitored last year in the cities of Cebu, Mandaue and Lapu-Lapu were no longer active.
READ: Pogo ban closely watched; Pagcor warned
Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the BI would recommend the filing of cases against the owner of the resort for harboring illegal aliens.
“We will suggest to the authorities to file cases against resort owners [who] allow[ed] their properties to be used by illegal aliens in their covert operations,” Tansingco said in a statement.
He added: “This will serve as a warning to those who might attempt to start illegal online gambling operations, which has already been banned by the President.”
Saturday’s raid was carried out under a mission order from Tansingco, targeting 13 individuals who had been monitored as illegal aliens for overstaying and working without permits at the resort in Barangay Agus, the BI said.
Makeshift work stations
But instead of just locating the 13 foreigners, authorities found over a hundred foreign nationals operating illegal online gaming activities from makeshift workstations set up within the resort premises.
Most of the foreign nationals were Chinese, while the rest were Indonesians, Taiwanese, Malaysians and from Myanmar.
Ten of the foreigners were said to be minors. Five Filipino nationals were also caught in scamming activities,” according to Winston Casio, spokesperson for the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), which took part in the operation.
NBI-7 Director Rennan Oliva, NBI Central Visayas director, said that based on their investigation, the five Filipinos acted as managers and administrators of the illegal Pogo hub.
The BI said the arrested foreign individuals, whom the PAOCC separately described as “rescued” persons, would undergo inquest proceedings and would be temporarily detained pending their deportation.
From Pampanga?
Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard Chan revealed that he received information that the group running the Pogo hub in his city came from Pampanga and had escaped a large-scale raid conducted in that area a few months ago.
“They secretly and quietly moved to our city to continue their [Pogo] operation,” Chan said in an interview on Sunday.
Most of the foreigners rescued on Saturday were victims of human trafficking and illegal detention as they were forced to work against their will, said Chan.
BI intelligence division chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. said that the operation was conducted in coordination with the PAOCC, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine Center on Transnational Crime, and the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking. Department of Social Welfare and Development personnel were also involved to assist possible trafficking victims and have taken in the 10 minors.
Scam work areas
Casio said the raid was conducted through a request from the Indonesian Embassy after three of its nationals working in the illegal Pogo hub sought their help.
According to Casio, they were only supposed to conduct a rescue operation for the Indonesians working in the Pogo hub, but when they arrived at the resort, the Tourist Garden Hotel in Barangay Agus, they found more foreigners inside.
He said the persons who run the hub made sure that the foreign workers could not leave the compound since all their necessities were provided for.
The compound has a restaurant, grocery store, dormitory and a health facility, said Casio.
“There’s no licensed Pogo in Cebu province so this is illegal. Everything we saw was enough evidence to be able to file a cybercrime offense for facilitating cybercrime-related gambling [and] cybercrime-related qualified trafficking,” he told reporters.
Casio said the illegal Pogo hub housed three “different scam work areas,” which would be subjected to an inventory “in preparation for the application of a warrant to search and examine computer data.”
The foreign nationals would be brought to Manila to face inquest proceedings for violation of immigration laws, Casio said.