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MANILA, Philippines — Despite President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr.’s order to ban Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), illegal operations still persist, with some firms relocating to the Visayas and Mindanao.
This was disclosed by Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) Director Winnie Quidato during the Senate panel on women’s final Pogo probe held Tuesday.
Before Quidato’s disclosure, panel head Senator Risa Hontiveros pressed the PAOCC official to explain how Pogos now “break into smaller groups.”
READ: Alice Guo unable to attend Senate Pogo probe due to scheduling conflict
Following the ban, reports indicated that Pogo hubs have adopted new tactics to conceal their activities, with some masquerading as business process outsourcing (BPO) firms.
“So how vast are these operations that you’ve been seeing — for example, in Parañaque — that Pogos are now breaking up into smaller groups or pretending to be BPOs? Is this only happening in Metro Manila, other parts of Luzon, or across all parts of Luzon just like what NICA identified as their areas of concern?” asked Hontiveros.
Addressing Hontiveros’ questions, Quidato noted that the phenomenon was not confined to Luzon.
READ: Marcos: ‘All Pogos are banned!’
“Because PAOCC is active in Luzon, we found that most of Pogos are now in several Visayas areas and even Mindanao. They are there now,” he said.
Later in the hearing, Quidato added that they had observed an increase in flights from Luzon to the Visayas, with many travelers being former Pogo employees.
“We’ve been monitoring those who used to work for Pogos, and we’ve observed that some only change their names at the SEC and pretend to be BPO,” he said.
“Hopefully we’ll have a meeting for the implementation of EO 74. There, I hope to discuss with other agencies what we are going to do about the solving of these problems,” he added.
During his third State of the Nation Address in July, Marcos ordered a ban on all Pogos in the Philippines. He later directed Pagcor to wind down and cease the operations of these firms by the end of the year.