Senate to hold last POGO hearing next week

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate will hold its final hearing on illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) and unravel China’s espionage activities and the role of dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo, according to Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

“We will tie up loose ends in our last hearing next Tuesday. This includes the big fish behind the POGO operations and its interlocking directorates,” Hontiveros said during the Kapihan sa Senado forum yesterday.

There is a lot more to unpack about POGOs being a front for Chinese spies following the allegation of detained self-confessed agent She Zhijiang that he and Guo served for the Chinese Communist Party’s spy network, Hontiveros said.

The last POGO investigation will be the 16th hearing since the Senate started its investigation last year on how the offshore gaming became hubs for trafficked victims to be forced to do scams and hacking activities.

The Senate had investigated the raided POGO hubs in Pasay, Clark, Porac and Bamban, Tarlac where Guo was revealed to be a key player in the illegal scamming operation.

Since Guo surfaced, senators uncovered her alleged Chinese citizenship by forging her birth certificate and faking her Filipino identity in order to set up a business and run for public office.

While lauding the President’s ban on POGOs for their involvement in organized crime, Hontiveros said there were loopholes in his executive order for all offshore gaming to wind down operations before the end of the year.

Hontiveros stressed the need for a separate bill banning POGOs because President Marcos’ EO 74 has provisions that seemed to exclude online games of chance in Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.-operated casinos and resorts, as well as those in economic zones like Cagayan Economic Zone Authority and the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority.

“There are still unclear or outright loopholes. Can POGOs still operate in casinos, resorts, and economic zones? I will ensure that the anti-POGO bill would plug in the gaps,” Hontiveros said.

She also shared the concern of Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla that POGOs have splintered and gone underground by disguising as resorts and restaurants.

Hontiveros called for penalties against local government officials who, instead of going after the guerrilla operations of POGO, allegedly helped the operators to assume a legal cover by applying for permits as resorts or restaurants.

Meanwhile, only 38 out of the 298 soon-to-be displaced POGO workers got hired for new employment in the recently held special job fair for POGO workers, according to the Department of Labor and Employment.

The DOLE has initiated job fairs to assist the over 30,000 Filipino workers who are facing unemployment with the closure of POGO by the end of the year.

Over 12,000 local and overseas vacancies were offered during the two-day job fair held in Pasay City.

Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said the DOLE will also assist displaced POGO workers in claiming accrued wages and benefits as well as processing of unemployment insurance benefit claims.   – Mayen Jaymalin