LAPU-LAPU City has remained free of illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogos) since the last reported raid involving a Chinese company in Barangay Mactan on Sept. 7, 2019.
This was revealed by Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan in SunStar Cebu’s online news program “Beyond the Headlines” on Tuesday, July 23, 2024.
Chan also said there are no active legal Pogo hubs in the city.
The mayor said the 2019 raid was the last instance of illegal Pogo activity in Lapu-Lapu City.
He also said that he had ordered the Lapu-Lapu City Police Office to profile foreigners living in 30 barangays, creating a record of all international residents to monitor their businesses and activities.
This initiative, he said, aims to take immediate action and identify foreign citizens who violate laws or engage in illegal activities in the city.
On Monday, July 22, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. announced during his third State of the Nation Address (Sona) a ban on all Pogos, citing threats to national security.
The President’s decision to prohibit Pogos was driven by increasing concerns over their involvement in various illegal activities, including financial scams, money laundering, human trafficking, prostitution, torture, and even murder.
Marcos said there is a need to stop the “grave abuse and disrespect” these operations posed to the country’s laws and social fabric.
Marcos declared that all Pogos are to cease operations effective immediately, directing the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. to gradually phase out online activities by the end of the year.
In Central Visayas, Lt. Col. Gerald Pelare, spokesperson of Police Regional Office 7 Director Anthony Aberin, said the five Pogos observed in Cebu in past years are now inactive.
During the Openline news forum on July 22, Pelare assured reporters that “there will be no more Pogos” in Central Visayas. / DPC