Over 100 foreigners arrested in Cebu for illegal online gaming

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MANILA, Philippines — More than 100 foreigners involved in illegal online gaming were arrested in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu on Saturday, the Bureau of Immigrations (BI) reported. 

In a statement, BI Intelligence Division Chief Fortunato Manahan Jr. said that the operation conducted in a resort in Brgy. Agus in Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu was a collaboration with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Armed Forces of the Philippines, the Philippine Center for Transnational Crime, and the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking. 

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco issued a mission order to monitor 13 illegal aliens for overstaying and working without a permit in the same location. The authorities then found the foreigners engaged in illegal online gaming inside the resort. 

“The arrested foreign nationals will undergo inquest proceedings and will be temporarily detained prior to deportation,” said BI in the same statement.

Tansingco said that they will recommend the filing of charges against the resort owners for allowing the foreigners to stay in their area. 

“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,” added Tansingco.

The BI on Wednesday said that more than 100,000 foreigners working for legal Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) are given until October 15 to voluntarily “downgrade” their working visa to a tourist status to avoid deportation.

Tansingco also shared on Wednesday that the immigration bureau already converted working visas to tourist visas of about 2,000 foreign workers.

This is in line with the directive of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to ban Pogos in the country.