Experts told the South China Morning Post that ex-POGOs are moving to new jurisdictions following a government crackdown.

Philippines No Longer an Option for Illegal Operators

POGOs were ordered to shut down by President Bongbong Marcos in July 2024, during his State of the Nation Address.

Since then, officers have been hunting operators who continue to run gambling-related sites and apps.

In October of last year, the government ordered foreign passport-holding POGO employees to voluntarily downgrade their visas. Those refusing to do so were threatened with deportation.

Filipino police have since followed up with arrests. Last month, police spokespeople announced that the force had deported 100 Chinese nationals to Shanghai, China, after a raid on an illegal gambling network.

Deportations to China

In February this year, officials said they deported 91 Chinese nationals to Xi’an. This followed a raid on an illegal POGO operating out of a commercial building in Parañaque City on January 8, which saw police arrest 450 people.

But officials claim that many operators are instead choosing to move abroad, where they try to lure Filipinos into working for them.

Immigration staff told reporters that they stopped four Filipinos bound for Hong Kong at Ninoy Aquino International Airport, Manila, on July 6.

After questioning the quartet, immigration officers said they found discrepancies in their statements.

They later discovered that the four individuals were actually heading to Pakistan. At least one of the quartet is a former POGO employee.

This same individual, officers said, was recruited by a Chinese former employer who used to work in the POGO sector but has since relocated overseas.

Melvin Mabulac, an official from the Bureau of Immigration, last week claimed that this was the first confirmed case of Filipinos traveling to Pakistan to work for gambling operators.

Mabulac said his bureau was now investigating to see if former POGOs are using multiple exit strategies to smuggle Filipino workers out of the country.

The bureau believes that some would-be gambling firm employees pretend to be taking legitimate vacations. Others use illegal exit corridors in the Southern Philippines.

Former POGOs may follow in the footsteps of trafficking syndicates in Cambodia, Myanmar, and Thailand.

These syndicates typically use overland exit points near Palawan, Zamboanga, and Tawi-Tawi, rather than airports.

“We are looking into the possible new destinations of [people who are] now transferring to Pakistan,” Mabulac said.

Social Media Snares

Earlier this year, the Bureau of Immigration said that “scam hubs abroad operating in the guise of online gambling or call centers continue to recruit Filipinos via social media platforms.”

POGO-themed scam operations have sprung up in the Philippines since the turn of the century. Many of these operations also mastermind crypto-themed scams, police have warned.

Alexander Ramos, a former undersecretary and executive director of the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center, said he believed many trafficking networks in Myanmar, Cambodia, Thailand, and Pakistan were related to former POGOs.

“It’s easier for them to [move] their operations overseas at this point,” Ramos said.

“We’re seeing that this could boom in South Asia and Africa, as their systems have not yet been widely exploited.”

‘Natural Progression’ for POGOs Moving to Pakistan

At their height in 2018, some 300 POGOs operated in the Philippines. Their annual revenues reached a peak of over $116 million in the same year.

Many Chinese-run online gaming companies used the POGO system to set up shop in Filipino special economic zones (SEZs).

Officials think over 9,000 former POGO workers continue to reside in the Philippines.

Jan Chavez-Arceo, a national security fellow of the Philippine Council for Foreign Relations, said moving to Pakistan was “a natural progression” for illegal gambling operators.

Earlier this month, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation ordered gambling firms to take down gambling billboards by August 15.

The post Philippines Officials Say Illegal Offshore Gambling Operators Are Moving to Pakistan appeared first on CasinoBeats.

The call was made by Salvador Panelo, former Legal Counsel to the President. Roque would return to face criminal allegations linking him to an unlicensed offshore gaming business.

Roque, who has recently fled to The Hague, where he is now seeking asylum, claims he is being subjected to political persecution.

Panelo has publicly dismissed these claims, stating that merely criticizing the Marcos administration is not sufficient grounds for such an assertion. “If he truly believes he is innocent, he should come home and defend himself,” Panelo said during a televised interview in the Philippines.

The charges stem from Roque’s alleged involvement as a legal representative of Lucky South 99, a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub based in Porac, Pampanga. 

Marcos was the President who officially outlawed POGOs in November last year.  

Last year, authorities raided the facility, rescuing 186 Filipino and other foreign nationals who were reportedly working there while being held against their will.

The recent congressional hearings on the matter revealed documents bearing Roque’s signature, which were submitted as evidence of his connection to the operator. 

He also admitted to helping Katherine Cassandra Ong, a registrant of Whirlwind Corporation, which leased the land used by the gaming hub and settled fees with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) in the process.

Roque Financial Ambiguities Relating to POGO

Panelo stressed in his interview that the burden of proof still rests with the prosecution. If the accusations lack merit, Roque does not need to provide any further supporting evidence.

Nevertheless, he warned that due to the nature of the case involving human trafficking, it would require his immediate detention, with a strong case for his need to file a bail petition, too.

As a result of the case, Roque’s legal and financial affairs have been placed under the microscope. Paramount among these concerns is his own company, Biancham Holdings, whose assets suspiciously shot up during this time, from their original value of $2,200 in 2014 to over $1.2 million in 2018.

In a separate indictment, his wife, Mylah Roque, has also been implicated for allegedly signing lease agreements with Chinese nationals who are linked to another POGO hub in Bamban, Tarlac. 

To date, both have failed to comply with congressional subpoenas to provide supporting financial documents, prompting the House of Representatives to issue the recent arrest orders.

Roque’s Asylum Bid and Interpol Red Notice

Responding to the accusations, Roque argued that his legal services were limited and instead maintained that the charges were entirely politically motivated.

In a recent interview, he also went on to dismiss Panelo’s televised statements, stating he believed they reflect a “complete ignorance of asylum law.”

Following due process, the Department of Justice has begun legal proceedings to request an Interpol ‘Red Notice’ insisting that Roque must be immediately apprehended in order to be tried. 

If granted, it would help facilitate the government’s efforts to bring him back to face trial in the Philippines.

Commenting on the Roque predicament, Panelo said public perception would begin to turn against him the longer he remains abroad. “Whether that’s right or wrong, that would be the perception of people. So, if I were him, I would go home,” he remarked bluntly.

Despite their past roles, both working under the Duterte administration, Panelo has made it clear that he believes this is not a political witch-hunt but merely the enforcement of legal accountability.

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