PNP wants more active role in POGO inspections
Published Jul 10, 2023 08:36 am
The Philippine National Police (PNP) wants to have more active role in the conduct of inspections of all the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country following the challenges faced by its Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) when the Las Piñas raids were conducted last month.
PNP-ACG director Brig. Gen. Sidney Hernia said this is one of the proposals they suggested during a meeting with top officials of the Philippine Amusement Gaming Corporation amid several issues that came up during the operations on a suspected POGO hub in Las Piñas.
“First, we want the PNP to be active in participating in the conduct of inspections on POGOs so that we could immediately see the problems. Right now, this is not the case so hopefully we can institutionalize this,” said Hernia.
Amid calls and proposals for a full stop in POGO operations in the country, with critics saying that such game operations are even banned in China and other countries, the national government is hesitant in doing so as the industry contributes billions in revenues.
Based on the PNP data, particularly from the Anti-Kidnapping Group, kidnapping cases went up since POGO operations started a few years ago.
One of the issues that the ACG is very concerned of, according to Hernia, is the repeated discovery of foreign fugitives being employed in POGOs.
In the Las Piñas raids for instance, at least seven fugitives, mostly Chinese and Taiwanese, were discovered.
Hernia said Pagcor officials have committed to come up with new policies in monitoring POGO activities in the country.
“Hopefully in the coming days, Pagcor will be able to issue these changes in policies because this would be of big help for us,” said Hernia.