RAID IN BAGAC Armed law enforcers watch over dozens of employees of an alleged illegal Philippine offshore gaming operator company in Bagac, Bataan, on Thursday, Oct. 31, after it was raided on suspicion of human trafficking. Raiders found that they were using a software for online betting that is banned in many countries. —NIÑO JESUS ORBETA
Law enforcement authorities shut down two suspected illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), one in Bataan and the other in Metro Manila, this week as the year-end deadline set by President Marcos to stop this business drew near.
On Thursday, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) raided a suspected Pogo compound for alleged human trafficking inside a freeport supposedly being run by a Malaysian in the village of Parang in Bagac, Bataan.
Two days earlier, the National Bureau of Investigation arrested 18 Chinese nationals running an alleged “scam hub” in Parañaque City, which was suspected to be a smaller illegal Pogo that had branched off from a larger one.
One of the suspects also attempted to bribe agents while they were being transported to the NBI office in Quezon City, offering P300,000 for each of the 17 others, according to NBI Director Jaime Santiago.
Amid a heavy downpour over Bagac, the raiders, which included a small team of elite soldiers, entered the 1.5-hectare compound to implement a warrant to search seven buildings of Central One Bataan PH Inc. at Centro Park freeport.
Judge Hermenegildo Dumlao II of Malolos Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch No. 81 issued the warrant when he found probable cause to believe that the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act had been violated after he examined the warrant application of Police Lt. Mark Jayson Turqueza of the CIDG and other witnesses.
The respondents in the alleged trafficking case included four Malaysians, 10 Chinese and one Thai.
Hundreds of Filipinos and foreigners were seen by journalists being held for identification. Central One has 1,500 workers and seven buildings, according to a human resources officer of the company.
As of early Friday evening, 358 Filipinos and 57 foreigners were accounted for, said PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio.
He did not say whether the alleged trafficking suspects were arrested during the raid, but he told reporters that they found “violations in relations to offshore gaming operations that are not allowed within the permits of this Pogo.”
Casio pointed to the “notorious online betting platform” called Winbox, which he said was banned in many countries.
Red flag
“We have seen it in plain view here at Central One,” he told reporters at the site during the raid. “So that is already a red flag, a probable cause for us that would allow us, necessitate us, to apply for a cyberwarrant.”
The search warrant the raiders carried allowed them to seize, among others, “scripts” used to scam victims, cell phone SIM cards and cloning devices, internet equipment and routers, identification cards, company documents and monies “acquired in their scamming operations.”
It was not immediately clear what items and how many had been seized by PAOCC.
Central One identifies itself as a business process outsourcing company that was established in 2022, but it is “a Pogo operating without a license from Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.),” Casio said.
Cleared in June
In June, Bataan Gov. Joet Garcia and Bagac Mayor Rommel del Rosario personally inspected the company and found “no irregularities,” according to a statement from the local government.
The “thorough inspection” followed “speculation among locals” that the compound “could be a Pogo.”
“We conducted this inspection to ensure transparency and to address the concerns of our constituents. Based on our observations, we found no evidence of any illicit activities within the company,” Garcia was quoted as saying.
Casio said the Bataan local government officials were unable to detect the Pogo operation.
“We can’t blame them for not seeing whatever is here because they are not technically competent to check,” he said. “We have pieces of evidence that this is a Pogo facility that has no permit from Pagcor.”
“Their authority to operate was from the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan but a permit to operate as a Pogo must come from Pagcor,” Casio said.
Santiago said during a press conference on Wednesday that the Parañaque raid on Tuesday followed information received by the NBI’s Cybercrime Division that at least four condominium apartments in the city were being used in fraudulent activities.
Caught in the act
Surveillance later showed workstations being used in investment and cryptocurrency scams, theft of bank account information and illegal gambling.
The NBI applied for a warrant from the Parañaque RTC Branch 258 to search, seize and examine computer data in the four condominiums.
Seventeen of the Chinese were caught as they were actively engaged in scamming, like posing as representatives of legitimate businesses to lure victims, or promoting gambling sites manipulated to ensure that bettors would always lose.
Jeremy Lotoc, chief of the Cybercrime Division, said that the NBI had observed that following anti-Pogo operations, large Pogos splintered into smaller groups.
“Their operations would [also be located] either in residential or condo units—again, to avoid law enforcement action,” he said.
Agents ‘played along’
The 17 Chinese nationals would be charged with violating the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 and the Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act, while the other one would be charged with corruption of public officials.
Santiago said the agents “played along” with the alleged briber who brought to the NBI office P1.5 million—the supposed “first of five batches” of payments—for the total P5.1-million bribe offer.
The 18 Chinese nationals are detained at the NBI and the 57 foreigners taken from Central One will be held at the PAOCC detention center in Pasay City while formal charges are being prepared against them, including possible violations of immigration laws.
PAOCC, NBI and police, with military support, have been conducting raids jointly or separately to shut down Pogos after the President announced in his State of the Nation Address in July that his administration will end Pogo operations in the country by the end of the year.
Mr. Marcos cited the Pogos’ alleged links to criminal activities, including sex and human trafficking, electronic or online scamming, kidnapping, torture and even murder.