Senate Probes Crime-Linked to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations

MANILA, Philippines (November 7, 2023) — According to local media reports the senate Committee on Women will investigate Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) at a building in Pasay City that was shut down by the local government last Friday due to human trafficking and other crimes.

“The Committee on Women will also conduct an ocular inspection of the building on Friday (Nov. 10) to understand the scale of the problem,” Business World reported Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel, said that “Pasay police officers were either negligent or complicit” in covering up for the POGOs.

Colonel Jean S. Fajardo, Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson, said over the weekend that the Pasay City police chief and 27 other police officers had been relieved from their posts due to the nefarious activities at the POGO hub.

On Monday, Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian filed a resolution seeking to probe the involvement of criminal syndicates within the POGO firms.

Mr. Gatchalian said that the numerous reports of human trafficking victims from these POGO from points to organized crime groups operating within these outfits.

“These syndicates have already corrupted our enforcers enabling them to operate freely even beside the police station,” he said.

The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission earlier this month discovered torture devices and rescued a total of 731 suspected human trafficking victims from the Pasay POGO hub.

SOURCE: Business World.