180 Chinese POGO workers deported  

MANILA, Philippines — Authorities deported yesterday 180 Chinese nationals who worked for a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) in Pasay City without proper immigration documents.

The Chinese workers were among the 731 rescued from the Smart Web Technology POGO hub, which was raided by an anti-human trafficking task force in October.

The raided POGO facility was suspected to be a prostitution and gambling den where several Filipinas and foreign women were rescued.

Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said the Chinese were sent home on a Philippine Airlines (PAL) flight to Shanghai, China.

Tansingco said a summary deportation order was issued against the Chinese for illegally working in the Philippines.

“Their activities are contrary to our laws and public interest, thus making them undesirable aliens,” he said.

PAL spokesperson Cielo Villaluna said the airline transported the passengers in line with the deportation order of the Bureau of Immigration.

“We carried out the required airport handling procedures,” Villaluna said.

The POGO hub was equipped with a nine-room KTV area, a pharmacy with a physician and two patient beds, a restaurant and a hotpot “shabu-shabu” area.

The task force, led by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and Department of Justice, discovered nine money vaults in the POGO facility.

At least seven Filipinas were rescued from an aquarium-style viewing chamber of a massage parlor on the building’s second floor.

The raid was conducted by virtue of a search warrant issued by a Makati court.

Smart Web was one of two POGOs whose licenses had been revoked by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.