PANABO CITY, Davao del Norte — Authorities are preparing deportation documents for 55 Chinese nationals and one Malaysian among the 59 individuals arrested by the National Bureau of Investigation-Southeastern Mindanao Regional Office (NBI-Semro) for operating an illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (Pogo).
The suspects were apprehended early on Friday, December 6, 2024, at a 1.5-hectare agricultural warehouse in New Malitbog, Barangay Manay, Panabo City, Davao del Norte.
NBI-Semro Director Archie Albao confirmed that the group included 55 Chinese nationals, three Malaysians, and one Filipino from Manila.
He said the deportation process for the foreign nationals is being finalized, while legal actions for the Filipino suspects are being processed.
The group had been running the scam hub for over three months, and authorities seized foreign IDs, a shotgun, computers, and other items during the raid.
“Most of these Chinese nationals are from Manila lahat, dinala dito dahil nag-sarado ang Pogo nila so they operate siguro mga three months palang. Yung lugar discreet, it is a compound na dati parang agricultural bodega (Most Chinese nationals are all from Manila; they were brought here because their POGO operations shut down, so they’ve probably only been operating for about three months. The location is discreet; it’s a compound that used to be an agricultural warehouse),” Albao said.
In an exclusive interview with SunStar Davao, Albao highlighted that this was the first raid on a POGO establishment in the region. The individuals are currently in the custody of NBI-Semro while investigations continue in coordination with the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
“Ngayon we are going to coordinate with the immigration if meron silang pending cases dito sa Pilipinas pero kung wala, we are pretty sure na this operations nila is not licensed (Now, we are going to coordinate with immigration to check if they have any pending cases here in the Philippines, but if not, we are pretty sure that their operations are not licensed),” Albao added.
Panabo City Mayor Jose Relampagos revealed that the group initially sought permission to build a warehouse for plastic products and had visited his office two months prior.
Panabo City Police Chief Jess Anthony Maghirang added that they had not detected the Pogo operations earlier but will now coordinate with NBI to build a case and strengthen monitoring of foreign businesses.
Pogo, rebranded as Internet Gaming Licensees (IGL) in October 2023, provides online gaming services to foreign markets, primarily China.
Although PogoO operations started in the Philippines in 2003, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. banned them in July 2024. JPC with reports from DEF and RGL