NBI to subpoena building owner, execs over Davao del Norte Pogo

Davao del Norte. INQUIRER FILES

DAVAO CITY, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) still has to subpoena the land and building owner of the two-hectare warehouse in Panabo City and several city officials to establish how the Philippine offshore gaming operations (Pogo) came to operate in the city of Davao del Norte.

Ely Leano, spokesperson of the NBI’s southeastern Mindanao regional office (Semro), said the NBI had already taken possession of at least 50 computers discovered during the December 6 raid in the warehouse in Purok 6, Barangay Manay in Panabo City.

NBI agents served the search warrant on Friday, December 13, to take possession of the computers in the warehouse after cases of syndicated estafa and online illegal gambling in relation to Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012 had been filed against 59 workers found in the warehouse during the raid.

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Leano said they were now applying for a cyber warrant to allow the NBI data forensic officer to open the computer data and establish the Pogo operation.

He told the Philippine Daily Inquirer by phone they had already subpoenaed local officials including two barangay councilors and Barangay Chair Raul Mahipus and business permit and licensing permit officials in the city to establish how the Pogo came to operate in the city.

“We have already subpoenaed the barangay kagawad [councilor] and barangay captain and city officials involved in issuing the permits,” he said.

But he added that they also had to subpoena the Davao businessman who owned the warehouse to find out whether he had any knowledge of the Pogo operation in his building.

“We are still doing a deeper investigation and case building of those possibly involved in the operation. It is still ongoing,” he added.

NBI agents were supposed to rescue a Malaysian national “illegally held” inside the warehouse at Purok 6 at the dawn hours of Friday, December 6, but instead of finding the Malaysian, they found a suspected Pogo operation with 55 Chinese, three Malaysians, and a Filipina as workers.

Following the discovery of the Pogo operation in the city, Panabo Vice Mayor Gregorio “Banjong” Dujali III called on the quad committee of the House of Representatives (HR) to include in their investigation in aid of legislation the recently-discovered Pogo operation in Davao del Norte.

Dujali authored a resolution asking the quad committee in the Lower House investigating the Pogo to include the recently discovered Pogo operations which had caused a stir among local officials in Panabo City.