Drugs, torture equipment found in POGO hub

MANILA, Philippines — Illegal drugs and various instruments of torture were recovered inside a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hub in Pampanga recently raided by police.

Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo said yesterday around 10 sachets of suspected shabu were discovered inside the compound of Lucky South 99 which are now being subjected to forensic examination.

Fajardo said baseball bats and metal sticks, which police believe were used to torture people, were also found inside the estimated 10-hectare compound.

Fajardo said four foreigners – three men and a woman – who were among the 160 foreign nationals rounded up in the POGO hub said they were victims of torture.

“We’re seeing many illegal activities happening in that scam farm,” Fajardo said at a briefing at Camp Crame.

A Chinese national handcuffed to a bedframe inside what was believed to be a torture chamber was among the many discoveries of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) at the POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga that was raided on Friday.

PAOCC Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz confirmed on “Storycon” over One News yesterday that rooms believed to be torture chambers were discovered inside the vast compound where Lucky South 99 was operating.

“We already searched 15 buildings out of 46,” Cruz said in Filipino. “We saw four rooms that are being used to torture or inflict harm to the workers of this illegal POGO hub, as well as equipment being used for torture, such as baseball bats, retractable metal sticks and other materials used to inflict harm.”

They were given 10 days to complete their operation as stated in a search warrant issued by a court.

Cruz said some rooms even had workers, mostly Chinese, who had been subjected to torture.

“When we arrived, there was even one who was handcuffed (to a bedframe),” he added.

The rooms, he said, bore signs that they had been used as venues for torture, particularly bloodstains on the walls, floors, beds and sheets.

Investigators also discovered cell phones, computers, registered SIM cards and “scripts” that the workers used for love scams.

Cruz said they are still looking for one torture victim that had reportedly died.

Although they have not yet discovered bodies, he did not discount the possibility that workers may have died inside the property, citing videos that they have seen from one of the confiscated phones.

The PAOCC official said they have yet to open the hub’s administration building, where they expect to get more information regarding the ownership of the property.

But he said they already saw initial papers that could shed light on the POGO hub’s operations.

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., he said, had already canceled the permit and license to operate of Lucky South 99. “It operated without papers and permit from Pagcor,” he added.

No POGO protector

Meanwhile, Porac Mayor Jaime Capil denied he is a protector of the POGO hub, stressing his office did not issue a permit this year to the establishment for its failure to comply with mandatory requirements set by the government, particularly from the Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP).

“They are in the negative list of the BFP,” he said in a speech aired over dzBB radio.

In a separate statement, the municipal public information office said Capil had ordered an investigation on the firm following an inspection by the municipal government of the establishment.

Capil also denied connection in any way with Lucky South 99, saying he is against heinous crimes and any form of torture and other illegal activities within the hub.

He said the local government fully supports the actions undertaken by the PAOCC against the POGO hub.

As reports on POGO-related illegal activities mount, Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers and Cagayan de Oro Rep. Rufus Rodriguez, who voted in 2021 for the legalization of POGO, are now seeking their total ban, saying they pose “serious threats” to national security.

The two voted in favor of House Bill 5777 which sought to impose taxes on POGOs and their foreign employees.

According to Barbers, he felt like “nabudol (scammed)” when he voted for POGO taxation in 2021.

For his part, Rodriguez said he regretted favoring POGOs. “After 2021, all the serious problems caused by POGO have come to fore. I regret my vote and I now call for the banning of POGO,” Rodriguez said.

Barbers explained that it was during the COVID-19 pandemic when the House approved the measure and they thought that POGOs “would bring the much-needed revenues for the government since the economy has slowed down” then.

“Unfortunately, the negative far outweighs the benefits it promises to bring. Since they failed to deliver their perceived benefits to our economy and instead has contributed to the rise in criminality perpetuated by the Chinese, then I must say I changed my mind in favoring this,” he told The STAR.

In a statement, Barbers maintained that China and Chinese legitimate businesses and investors are welcome in the Philippines but not the “garbage that seemed to be being deliberately dumped (in the Philippines) as if the country is a junkyard for its waste products.”

He cited illegal gambling, drugs and criminal syndicates “as among the unlawful activities” associated with POGOs.

“These POGOs that are banned in mainland China only brought more crimes and shame to our country. Whatever benefit we got from them is nothing compared to what they have put us in,” he said. — Sheila Crisostomo