THE Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) yesterday filed graft charges against suspended Porac, Pampanga Mayor Jaime Capil and nine other local officials before the National Prosecution Service of the Department of Justice (DOJ) in connection with the illegal operation of a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub in the municipality.
Aside from Capil, included in the complaint are Vice Mayor Francis Laurence Tamayo, Business permit and Licensing Office chief Emerald Salonga Vital, and Sangguniang Bayan members Rafael Canlapan, John Nuevy Venzon, Rohner Buan, Michelle Santos, Hilario DC Dimalanta, Essel Joy David and Addrian Carreon.
San Fernando City Assistant Prosecutor Jose Teodoro Leonardo Santos said the local officials were charged after it was discovered that POGO hub Lucky South 99 was able to obtain a business permit from the local government for 2022 to 2023 despite having problems with their documents, such as the application forms submitted being blank.
“Pag tiningnan yung forms blangko blangko pero naproseso. Ang primary purpose ng Lucky South 99 ay outsourcing at hindi POGO, so labag ito sa kanyang primary at secondary purposes (When you check the forms, there was nothing on them, they were blank. The primary purpose of Lucky South 99 was outsourcing and not POGO, so there was a violation in their primary and secondary purposes),” Santos said after the filing.
He said Capil and the other respondents neglected their duties when they approved the application even with all the infirmities in the documents.
Santos said they are also looking at filing additional cases, such as trafficking in person. “There is an ongoing case build up, case conference with our partners in the law enforcement agencies,” he said.
Trafficking in person is a non-bailable offense.
Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) and Bulacan Provincial Prosecutor Ramoncito Ocampo echoed Santos’ statement that more cases could follow.
“We are still crafting and evaluating the evidence presented and hopefully, next week we can come up with the third set of cases as far as the Porac POGO is concerned,” Ocampo said.
He said the PAOCC and the CIDG are closely working on the evaluation of the evidence.
The PAOCC and the CIDG previously filed trafficking in person cases against Katherine Cassandra Li Ong, the authorized representative of Lucky South 99.
Last week, the Office of the Ombudsman suspended Capil and other officials of Porac for six months based on the complaint filed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government for failure to do their duty when they allowed the continuous operation of Lucky South 99 in their locality.
HUMAN RESOURCES
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros yesterday said Malacañang should provide the PAOCC with additional “human resources” to shut down all POGOs in the country.
Hontiveros made the statement after PAOCC said officials and employees of raided or closed POGO facilities have now shifted to underground operations, defying the directive of President Marcos Jr. for a complete stoppage of their operations.
“Dapat mas lalo mapalakas ang task force na sumusugpo sa mga POGO. The President’s policy directive must have teeth (The task force running after these POGOs must be strengthened. The President’s policy directive must have teeth),” Hontiveros said.
She also called on law enforcement agencies which detain high-value POGO suspects to be always on alert since “I know they are using all the tactics at their disposal to get you to yield to their wishes.”
“Huwag magpalinlang at magpagamit (Don’t allow yourselves to be fooled and used),” she said.
Former Senator Panfilo Lacson said the public should help authorities locate POGO hubs which are still operating.
“Mas maganda kung meron kayong info, ipagbigay alam ninyo sa authorities para maging mahigpit ang pag-monitor and operate against underground POGOs (It is better that if you have information, relay them to the authorities so they can monitor and operate against underground POGOs),” Lacson said in a media forum in Quezon City.
He also urged law enforcers to heighten their intelligence gathering so they can stop POGO operations.
POGO IN CEBU
PNP-CIDG operatives arrested 38 Chinese nationals during a raid of an alleged offshore gaming hub in Cebu on Tuesday, the CIDG said in a statement yesterday.
It said the suspects who are currently under the custody of the local police are facing charges for violation of Republic Act 10175, or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012.
CIDG operatives, augmented by personnel from other police units, swopped down at the POGO hub in Barangay Saavedra in Moalboal town at 5:24 a.m. last Tuesday.
“Thirty-eight individuals, all Chinese nationals, were apprehended during the operation,” the CIDG said, without identifying the suspects.
Last October 9, police operatives also arrested a similar number of foreign nationals, believed to be mostly Chinese, during a raid of a POGO hub in the same barangay.
The operation, conducted by virtue of a search warrant, was launched in line with the CIDG’s flagship operation “Oplan Olea (other law enforcement activities).”
Seized during the Tuesday raid were “extensive amount of forensic evidence,” including 30 computers, 212 assorted cellphones, four laptops, routers, modems, chargers, cords, cable wires, landline phones, and keyboards.
Also seized were four sports utility vehicles and two vans.
“We assure the public that your CIDG will continue to perform its duty to ensure safety in the communities,” said CIDG director Brig. Gen. Nicolas Torre III.
“We remain ready in going after criminals, regardless of their nationalities, because we want you (public) to be safe,” added Torre.
PAOCC executive director Gilbert Cruz earlier said there are at least 100 POGO hubs still operating in the country despite the order given by the President last July totally banning POGO in the country. — With Raymond Africa and Victor Reyes
