Pogos are now relocating to far-flung areas, say Central Visayas cops

Moalboal, Cebu | Stock Photo

CEBU CITY, Philippines — Operators of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (Pogo) hubs are now moving their headquarters to far-flung areas.

Police Lieutenant Colonel Gerard Ace Pelare, spokesperson of the Police Regional Office in Central Visayas (PRO-7), said that this was part of their measures to avoid detection.

Pelare said this a day after another alleged Pogo hub was uncovered in Moalboal town in southern Cebu.

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Authorities inspected a resort in Barangay Saavedra at around 4:00 p.m. on Wednesday, October 9, after they found that the establishment had no business permit.

To their surprise, they discovered that there were 38 undocumented Chinese nationals who had been exclusively renting the resort since September 24. Also found in the resort were 34 computer sets, four laptops, and more than 200 mobile phones.

Police are now conducting an investigation to establish if the resort was indeed a Pogo hub.

This discovery came only months after law enforcers found out that a hotel in Barangay Agus, Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu was a Pogo hub housing a total of 169 foreign nationals.

While police had yet to confirm if the resort in Moalboal was indeed a Pogo hub, Pelare said that they observed that operators of such activities were moving to more isolated locations to avoid being detected by law enforcement units.

“Nagadapt sila og mga measures para dili sila madetect. Ug makabantay mo, ilang gidala ang ilang operations to far-flung municipalities. It used to be in highly-urbanized cities. But now they have consciously adapted measures or designs to hide these activities,” said Pelare.

(They have adapted measures so that they would not be detected. And if you notice, they brought their operations to far-flung municipalities. It used to be highly-urbanized cities. But now they have consciously adapted measures or designs to hide these activities.)

READ MORE: Porac mayor, 10 more execs suspended over Pogo hub

As a counter move, Pelare said that police would continue the conduct of their aggressive operations in coordination with local government units, which would play an essential role on the campaign against Pogos.

LGUs are in charge of spearheading inspections and visitations of buildings lacking business permits with the assistance of police officers.

“What we can do is coordinate with LGU. The LGUs spearhead the inspections and visitations then makita nato nga naa tay mga madiscover nga mga ingon ani nga mga activities. Although as I have mentioned, there is still an ongoing investigation as to make certainly conclude ba ta nga Pogo ni siya because we need to look at what is inside the computers,” said Pelare.

(What we can do is coordinate with LGU. The LGUs spearhed the inspections and visitations then we can see that we can discover activities such as this. Athough as I have mentioned, there is still an ongoing investigation as to make (us to) certainly conclude that it is really Pogo because we need to look at what is inside the computers.)

According to Pelare, they have been conducting these activities since law enforcers uncovered the first illegal Pogo hub in Visayas after the nationwide ban by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. two months ago.

Pelare highlighted that this is part of their relentless and aggressive campaign against all forms of criminality, including illegal Pogo and Pogo-like activities.

“This has always been the reminder of our regional director Police Brigadier General Anthony Aberin to go after this type of illegal activities. Of course in coordination with local government units and other agencies of government. Because as you can see, the novelty, bag-o kaayo ni nga (this is a new) menace and very complex. And it needs that ang atong approach ani (our approach)  is whole of government approach para masugpo nato ning (so that we can stop this) type of illegal activity,” he said.