PAOCC raids Makati POGO hub; 188 nabbed

MANILA, Philippines — A manhunt for a robbery suspect led to the discovery of an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) facility in Makati’s financial district on Wednesday night. Agents of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission raided the 21st floor of Yuchengco Tower along Ayala Avenue and rounded up 188 foreigners and Filipinos reportedly working for the POGO hub, PAOCC executive director Gilbert Cruz said.

Cruz said the PAOCC spearheaded the operation in coordination with the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group as well as the Makati police.

During the implementation of a warrant for the arrest of a robbery suspect, authorities found foreigners and Filipinos manning computer workstations.

Cruz said the POGO facility was engaged in online gaming services catering to clients from China, Japan, Germany, France, Indonesia, Thailand and Vietnam.

“The company’s international online gaming operations are not registered with PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.),” Cruz said.

Up to 135 foreigners – 91 men and 44 women – were apprehended during the raid. Eighty-five of them are Chinese, 26 Malaysians, 11 Taiwanese, five Japanese, two Vietnamese, two Indonesians, a Mongolian, a citizen of Myanmar, a Brazilian and a citizen of Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Cruz said two of the foreigners, whom he did not identify, are POGO bosses.

He said the suspect from Saint Kitss and Nevis has five passports like Huang Zhiyang, the alleged business partner of dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo.

Huang was tagged as the “boss of illegal POGOs.”

Fifty-three Filipinos were arrested in the raid.

Law enforcers found text blasters, one-time password generators and an international mobile subscriber identity catcher in the POGO facility.

Cruz said the complex also houses the embassies of Australia, Canada and Ireland.

The workers were brought to the PAOCC’s detention facility in Pasay.