The POGO menace does not end in 2024

MANILA, Philippines – In a hotpot restaurant of all places is where an alleged officer of the notorious POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) hub in Bamban, Tarlac was found last week.

Since the raid in March which blew open the case in Bamban and Alice Guo, authorities have been working on an operation to nab a previously unnamed Chinese who’s supposedly important in the company structure — Pan Meishu, 49 years old, who goes by the English name Hannah.

Unlike the company owners — big boss Huang Zhiyang and Singapore money laundering convicts Lin Baoying and Zhang Ruijin — Pan did not leave the Philippines and was confident enough to be roaming around Pasay City on Thursday, December 19, when Immigration operatives found her.

Pan is the financial officer of Zun Yuan, the POGO licensee allegedly used to mask a scam hub, according to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC).

“Expect more arrests as we crackdown on illegal POGO operations,” Immigration Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said.  “These companies doing illegal activities have no place in the country.”

Menace does not end

However, there’s a big disparity in the actual number of foreigners who worked in POGOs here. This is the basis of authorities in preparing for more operations in 2024, saying that the foreign workers will be splintering into disguise operations.

In the estimates of the Bureau of Immigration (BI), the base count is more than 21,000 foreigners who have voluntarily downgraded their visas since the all-out POGO ban. There were 10,821 of them who have already left the county earlier in December, and the bureau has pegged 7,000 more to leave before the year ends.

That’s a very small number compared to PAOCC’s estimate of 353,525 POGO workers, which they are basing on the number of alien employment permits (AEPs) given by the labor department specifically for POGOs.

There were also 328,925 foreigners which were granted either a special working permit (SWP), Provisional Work Permit (PWP), or a 9G commercial visa from 2019 to 2024, according to the BI through an FOI (Freedom of Information) request by Rappler. This number could shrink because there might be an overlap with the PWP holders who have been upgraded to a visa.

If there are hundreds of thousands of former POGO workers who will not leave the Philippines — where will they be working?

“Rogue POGOs na magtatago sa special class BPOs (rogue POGOs who will be hiding in special class BPOs),” said PAOCC chief Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz in an earlier interview. A BPO is a business process outsourcing firm.

POGOs may also be small scale and will operate in hotels, resorts, and homes inside subdivisions. (Read this earlier Rappler investigation about suspected POGO elements in subdivisions)

“There are a lot of indications kung paano niyo po makikita na may operations sa isang lugar. Kung bahay po ‘yan, 24 hours kahit sa gabi bukas sa buong bahay ang ilaw, presence ng foreign nationals sa area, so madalas nagpapadeliver na lang ng pagkain, ang daming basura makikita nyo, nagpapadagdag ng internet connection, maraming red flags, maraming indicators,” said Cruz.

(There are a lot of indications of how to spot an operation. If it’s a house, the light is on for 24 hours, there are a lot of foreign nationals in the area, they always have food delivered, there’s lots of trash, they keep installing new internet connections, there are many red flags, many indicators.)

The still unanswered question of CEZA

There are also the foreign workers inside the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) which, as an ecozone, is not under the jurisdiction of Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor).

It’s still a grey area if they are covered by the POGO ban. CEZA is run by the Enriles, and its powerful charter that gives them some autonomy was authored by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr’s chief presidential counsel, Juan Ponce Enrile

At the last Senate hearing on POGOs last November, CEZA insisted they were not covered by the ban because by their definition, the gaming operations of their licensees do not happen in the country.

“There are offshore gaming licensees which are operating outside the country…We believe that the conduct of interactive gaming licensees of CEZA outside the country is not subjected with the provisions of the Executive Order,” CEZA deputy administrator Marichelle De Guzman told the Senate in November 26.

Senator Risa Hontiveros said then that this is still a question that needs to be clarified with Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin. Asked if CEZA was covered by the ban, Cruz said: “Ang alam ko diyan sa lahat, ang sabi naman ni Presidente that’s to all. Perhaps ‘yung export processing zones natin kasama sila sa magsasara.” (From what I know, it’s all, and the President said that’s to all. Perhaps even export processing zones are included in what needs to be closed). – Rappler.com