BI to deport 29 foreign POGO workers

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) has initiated deportation proceedings against 29 foreign nationals arrested for involvement in a Philippine offshore gaming operation (POGO) in Silang, Cavite.

According to BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado, the 23 Chinese and six Myanmar workers were arrested on Jan. 15 during a raid on a private resort and events place.

“The aliens will be charged with immigration violation cases before the BI board of commissioners, which will issue the orders for their deportation and their inclusion in our blacklist, effectively banning them from re-entering the country,” Viado said yesterday.

He explained that the raiding team from the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and the BI discovered the POGO workers during an operation to apprehend a Chinese fugitive who was suspected to be hiding at the resort.

Aside from the legal proceedings against the foreign workers, Viado said the BI is also considering the filing of charges against the resort’s renters or operators for harboring illegal aliens.

“If during our investigation, we discover that they knowingly harbored these illegal workers, then they will face cases for violation of the Philippine immigration law,” Viado said.