Task force to crack down on Pogos in Cebu City eyed

CEBU CITY, Philippines — The City Government is planning to formulate a task force that would crack down on the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators or Pogo in Cebu City.

Cebu City Acting Mayor Raymond Alvin Garcia said this would be among the matters he would raise when he would meet the newly installed director of Cebu City Police Office (CCPO), Police Colonel Antonietto Cañete, who assumed the position last Friday, July 26.

“I want to observe him, most especially sa naa tay mga bag-ong direktaba padung niya labi na karon nga murag everything is being focused now on checking out if there are illegal Pogos here in the City of Cebu,” Garcia said.

(I want to observe him, most especially since with the new directives these will go to her now that it seems that everything is being focused now on checking out if there are illegal Pogos here in the City of Cebu.)

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“I am actually going to meet Colonel Cañete very soon aside from overdue na akong command conference niya, I want to talk to him about forming a task force composed of the Business Process Licensing Office and the PNP just to check out on legal businesses that are registered Business Process Outsourcing (BPO),” Garcia said.

(I am going to meet Colonel Cañete very soon aside from the command conference, I want to talk to him about forming a task force composed of Business Process Licensing Office and the PNP just to check out on legal businesses that are registered Business Process Outsourcing (BPO).)

Garcia said they might also invite the Department of Trade and Industry if they could have “random check” in the BPO companies in the city to make sure that they “have the license to operate what they are operating.”

He said this was because he learned from the authorities that there were illegal Pogo-like businesses operating in other areas that were “disguised as call centers or BPOs.”

“Mao na nga we are looking into that, kaning Task Force, random check lang we just want to see. In pursuant pod sa directive ni President Bongbong Marcos nga ang SILG (Secretary of Interior and Local Government), si Secretary Abalos, also mentioned Cebu,” Garcia said.

(That is why we are looking into that, this Task Force, this is just a random check, we just want to see. This is also in pursuant to the directive of President Bongbong Marcos that the SILG (Secretary of Interior and Local Government), Secretary Abalos, also mentioned Cebu.)

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“Tingalig (Perhaps) before he even comes here, we can only already give him a situationer of what’s happening here in Cebu City especially when it comes to Pogo-like businesses,” he added.

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. has already announced the banning of Pogos in the country during his 3rd State of the Nation Address.

With this, the chief of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) will visit Cebu soon as their department will investigate reports of Pogos operating here.

In an interview with reporters at Manila on July 23, Interior Secretary Benjamin “Benhur” Abalos Jr. said Cebu had no registered Pogos, but he revealed that they received reports that such firms continue to operate in the island-province.

Local officials here, including the mayors of the tri-cities, vowed to support the President’s new directives.

But, together with the Police Regional Office here (PRO-7), they assured the public that Pogos no longer operated here.

The Pogo industry, which boomed during the Duterte administration, has been repeatedly linked to crime syndicates engaged in human trafficking, kidnapping, robbery-extortion, money laundering, online scams and lately, espionage.

Pogo used to be the official designation for firms operating in the Philippines that offered online gambling services exclusively to markets outside the country, specifically China.

To be legal, they must be licensed by Pagcor and were obliged to bar any individual in the Philippines, Filipino citizens regardless of location, and potential patrons in countries and territories where offshore gambling is illegal from availing themselves of their services. | with reports from Inquirer.net and Morexette Marie Erram

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