A TOTAL of 4,039 people have been victims of crimes related to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) in the first half of 2023, the Philippine National Police (PNP) confirmed before a Senate committee on Wednesday.
To address the situation, Gen. Benjamin C. Acorda, PNP Chief, told senators that apart from “intensifying operations” against POGOs, the PNP is training more investigators on how to build cases against such illegal activities.
Compared with only 128 reported victims of POGO-related crimes in the first half of 2022, the strategy appears to be paying off. “In one operation alone, the victims are by the hundreds or thousands,” Mr. Acorda said at the Senate Finance Committee hearing on the budget of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), which has administrative jurisdiction over the PNP.
Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian, who earlier filed a resolution seeking to permanently ban POGO in the country, told the same hearing that many POGO firms are still licensed by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), which allows them to continue illegal activity.
“In other words, they (licensed POGO firms) are legitimate in the eyes of Pagcor, but they are doing illegitimate activities behind these licenses,” he said.
Mr. Acorda said the PNP has been coordinating with Pagcor and the Department of Justice (DoJ) to keep an eye on POGO-related activities.
He added that POGO operations must be regulated and monitored, or banned if crimes continue to increase.
In August, Pagcor said it would start the privatization of 45 casinos by the third quarter of 2025, which is expected to generate between P60 billion and P80 billion in revenues.
Mr. Gatchalian said the move would make up for the losses the government would incur from shuttered POGO firms after it was reported that Pagcor failed to collect P2.2 billion in unpaid dues from these POGO outfits. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
