‘POGOs now using resorts, restaurants as fronts’

MANILA, Philippines —  Resorts and restaurants are becoming the “biggest disguise” of some Philippine offshore gaming operators as these establishments are used by POGOs as fronts for crime, Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla said yesterday.

Local officials should regularly visit establishments within their jurisdiction to help stop illegal POGOs, Remulla said.

“The biggest disguise that they are going through now is that they are applying as resorts and restaurants. It is the power of the mayor to visit the establishments and make sure that what is going on is exactly what is intended,” he noted.

At the Commission on Appointments’ confirmation proceedings, Sen. Risa Hontiveros asked Remulla about the implementation of President Marcos’ order to ban POGOs.

Recent activities of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) showed some POGOs have turned to guerrilla operations, Remulla noted.

“The last case in Lapu-Lapu (Cebu) showed it very clearly that when the PAOCC raided the premises, the restaurants, hotel and bar were just a front and then it is a guerrilla operation,” he said. “I believe it transferred the one in Porac and hid there in Lapu-Lapu.”

At least 132 foreigners were rounded up in a suspected POGO hub or scam farm in Lapu-Lapu City in Cebu on Aug. 31.

Intelligence and special units of the Philippine National Police and National Bureau of Investigation are tasked with probing scam hubs, especially fronts without business permits, Remulla said.

POGO front

Authorities yesterday returned to a raided business process outsourcing (BPO) firm in Bataan in search of evidence that it is actually a POGO hub.

Armed with a search warrant issued by a Malolos court, operatives of the police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group opened 12 safety vaults, which could contain evidence that Central One is a POGO hub masquerading as a BPO.

“A lot of evidence was collected,” PAOCC executive director Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz said.

On Oct. 31, the PAOCC led a raid on Central One after receiving information that the firm was engaging in illegal activities.

Forty-two foreigners and hundreds of Filipinos were apprehended.

An Indonesian was accused of amassing 900 billion rupees or P3.3 billion in online scams.

The 41 other foreigners were ordered deported, but they were granted provisional liberty by the Bureau of Immigration after Bataan 2nd District Rep. Albert Garcia guaranteed their release on recognizance.

Fake birth certificates

A special committee canceling fraudulent birth certificates obtained by foreigners has been proposed by the quad committee of the House of Representatives to prevent another controversy similar to Alice Guo’s.

Guo, dismissed mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, is reportedly a Chinese national who obtained Filipino citizenship through a fake birth certificate. She has been suspected of espionage.

The quad comm yesterday filed House Bill 11117, which would form a special committee for the cancellation of foreigners’ fake birth certificates.

The bill marked the third legislative measure filed by the quad comm following a series of investigations into Philippine offshore gaming operators that President Marcos has banned.

Under the proposed legislation, the special panel would be chaired by the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) registrar general, with members from the Department of Foreign Affairs, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Department of Justice and Office of the Solicitor General.

The committee would be empowered to probe complaints, subpoena evidence and issue decisions on fake birth certificates within 30 days of receiving evidence.

Complaints may be filed by citizens or law enforcement agencies, attached with evidence such as the foreigner’s name, details of the fake birth certificate and circumstances of its acquisition.

Respondents will have 15 days to respond, after which the committee will hold hearings and decide based on substantial evidence.

The decision could be appealed before the Office of the President, which must resolve the appeal within 30 days.

Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr., Deputy Speaker David Suarez, quad comm chairmen Robert Ace Barbers, Bienvenido Abante Jr., Dan Fernandez and Joseph Stephen Paduano and quad comm vice chair Romeo Acop introduced the bill.

Other authors include Reps. Johnny Pimentel, Gerville Luistro, Rodge Gutierrez, Francisco Paolo Ortega V, Jay Khonghun, Jonathan Keith Flores, Jil Bongalon, Margarita Nograles, Ernesto Dionisio Jr., Joel Chua, Zia Alonto Adiong, Lordan Suan and Cheeno Miguel Almario.

Quad comm hearings revealed thousands of foreigners, including Guo Hua Ping, have secured fake Philippine birth certificates.

In Davao del Sur, quad comm leaders cited more than 1,200 falsified birth certificates issued by the local civil registrar as of July 2024.

These schemes likely involved collusion, “in exchange for a huge amount of money,” with public officers, congressmen noted.

In an interview after filing HB 11117, Luistro said this proposed measure belied claims of quad comm critics that the committee is “good only for conducting hearings.”

“We have already filed many bills. We have filed a bill in connection with the extrajudicial killings during the previous administration, making it a heinous crime. The proposed forfeiture of illegally acquired properties of foreign nationals,” Luistro noted.

“This one is on the illegally acquired birth certificates by foreign nationals. It is not true that the quad comm is just fond of conducting hearings. We have filed bills,” she said.

Quad comm lead chairman Barbers of Surigao del Norte’s 2nd District said HB 11117 was a result of the series of quad comm hearings.

“For the last several years, many Chinese became Filipinos through the acquisition of fraudulent documents such as birth certificates,” Barbers said.

“Because of their fraudulent Filipino citizenships, they managed to acquire land. They managed to organize corporations with 100 percent ownership. All these things were fraudulently done for reasons that are perhaps based on their self-interests,” he added.

The measure, he said, will impose stiffer penalties against government employees or officers proven to be involved in facilitating and helping foreigners obtain fake documents.

Some Filipinos find it difficult to get their birth certificates, he noted.

“Even in my district, some of my constituents are asking help from me to write the PSA to hasten the release of their request for birth certificate,” Barbers said.

Even with enough evidence of fraud, the bill’s authors said current procedures require a judicial order to cancel a birth certificate, a process that can take years.

Guo is now detained at the Pasig City Jail, charged with qualified human trafficking and graft. She is accused of using her former position as mayor to build a POGO firm and scam hub in Bamban.

The quad comm has so far filed HB 11043 or the proposed “Civil Forfeiture Act,” which seeks to authorize the government to seize real estate unlawfully acquired by foreign nationals, especially those linked to POGOs; HB 10987 or the “Anti-Offshore Gaming Operations Act” which would institutionalize a nationwide POGO ban. — Jose Rodel Clapano