MANILA, Philippines — A total of 162 foreign nationals from an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operator hub in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu have been rescued over the weekend, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said.
Authorities reported that they have rescued 162 foreign nationals who were found working at a scam farm, including 83 Chinese, 70 Indonesians, two Taiwanese, six Burmese, and oneMalaysian.
Authorities also reported that 10 of the rescued foreigners were minors.
In July, the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7) reported that there were no active POGOs in Cebu.
PRO-7 spokesperson Lt. Col. Gerard Pelare said that the five illegal hubs previously monitored in Cebu, Mandaue, and Lapu-Lapu cities last year were no longer operational.
But an intelligence report belied these claims.
According to the PAOCC, the inter-agency raid on the Tourist Garden Hotel in Barangay Agus was initiated in response to a request from the Indonesian Embassy to rescue eight of their citizens who were allegedly being held in an illegal POGO hub in the area.
The PAOCC also said that five Filipinos involved in scamming activities were rescued during the operation.
Of the eight Indonesians who had requested extraction, six were successfully rescued.
The foreign nationals will be brought to Manila for inquest proceedings, the POACC said.
In his third State of the Nation Address in July, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. ordered a nationwide ban on all POGOs, following their involvement in serious crimes such as scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, torture, and murder.
“Disguising as legitimate entities, their operations have ventured into illicit areas furthest from gaming such as financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, even murder,” Marcos said.
The Bureau of Immigration has also given marching orders and told all POGO workers and Internet Gaming Licensees in July to leave the country within 60 days or until September 24.
