Following the series of raids in the National Capital Region, the Department of Justice said the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) companies are now transferring their operations to different provinces in the country.
At a Senate investigation into the raided POGO hub in Pasay City Friday, Justice Undersecretary Nichols Felix Ty confirmed what Senator Risa Hontiveros described as the “emerging trend” of POGO hubs “sprouting outside the National Capital Region.”
“We believe, that makes sense for them to move somewhere else because they are feeling the heat here. Mainit na talaga dito sa NCR at sa mga nearby provinces (They are feeling the pressure here in NCR and in nearby provinces),” Ty said.
Authorities found out about this when they rescued around 30 foreign nationals heading to Cebu a day after the Pasay POGO hub was raided, the DOJ official said.
“Na-confirm namin ‘yon sa na-rescue na mga (We were able to confirm that when we rescued) 30 plus Vietnamese and Chinese nationals. They were rescued just the day after we raided Smart Web. They were rescued [at] the NAIA Terminal 2, taking a domestic flight from Manila to Cebu,” Ty said.
According to Ty, the victims themselves sought help from airport authorities using their cellphones.
“In English pa nilagay nila sa cellphone nila na (They wrote on their cellphone) ‘Please help us.’ One of the things that we were able to elicit from the victims is that they were headed to Cebu,” he added.
Apart from Cebu, Ty said POGO hubs might have been expanding in Cagayan de Oro and in Region II.
“Some of the victims that we rescued here, they said they came from Cagayan de Oro, there was another POGO in CDO. And there were reports that some are going to Region 2…They are going up north,” Ty said.
Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Risa Hontiveros on Friday conducted an ocular inspection inside the six-storey building in Pasay where the lawmakers saw the alleged torture chamber, KTV rooms, canteens, barber shops, restaurants, and spa rooms.
After the inspection, the Senate panel held the first hearing on the issue at the building which became the venue for the alleged various illegal activities.
The probe was launched after Gatchalian filed a resolution last week.
In his opening statement, Gatchalian said the Philippines has become a “human slavery hub of the world.”
“May sex den, meron pang torture chamber. Nasabi ko nga kanina, hindi magagawa ito ng mga ordinaryong kriminal. Ito ay ginagawa ng mga organized, nandito na sila sa Pilipinas. Katabi lang ng [Department of Foreign Affairs office], katabi lang ng police station, malapit lang sa Senado,” Gatchalian said.
(There is a sex den. There is a torture chamber. This cannot be done by ordinary criminals. I believed organized crime syndicates have a hand on this and they are already here in our country. This building is just beside the DFA main office, near a police station, and near the Senate building.)—AOL, GMA Integrated News
