Over a month ago, local officials and the police in Cebu refuted reports that there are Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogo) in the province.
This was after Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. said he was flying to Cebu to verify reports of “Pogo-like activities” in the province.
At that time, Abalos said he had received a report from Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) chairman and chief executive officer Alejandro Tengcot that activities similar to that of illegal Pogos have been monitored in the Visayas, particularly in Cebu.
The official said the licensed Pogos are only in Manila and Cavite, not Cebu.
Abalos also said he would meet with the mayors to ask for their help in addressing these reports.
Unfortunately, the visit didn’t push through.
But lo and behold.
More than a month later, authorities raided an illegal Pogo hub in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu, on Saturday, August 31.
What was supposed to be a rescue mission turned out to be a raid following an in flagrante delicto, or caught in the act, that scam farms were being run in the unsuspecting hotel.
According to the authorities, Chinese, Indonesian, and Myanmar nationals were operating love and cryptocurrency scams.
Winston Casio, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) spokesperson, said that the rescue operation stemmed from the information they received from the Indonesian government after three Indonesian nationals escaped from the illegal Pogo hub.
The discovery of a Pogo hub in the Visayas is the first after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the total ban of Pogo in the country due to the illegal activities linked to it, such as human trafficking, kidnapping, physical and sexual abuse, and even murder.
National Bureau of Investigation 7 Director Renan Oliva said those who engaged in Pogo operations in Pampanga, who had earlier been raided without being charged, had moved to Cebu to continue their fraudulent schemes.
Now the question is, are there any more Pogo-like hubs in the province? The authorities said they will closely investigate in the coming days.