A PHILIPPINE senator pushed for more intelligence funds for the Philippine National Police (PNP) to carry out operations cracking down on illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) after the government banned these outfits due to their links to syndicates.
“The PNP needs funds to gather intelligence, particularly in the fight against POGOs,” Senator Sherwin T. Gatchalian said in a statement on Monday. “This is the time to support the PNP in gathering more intelligence.”
Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr., in his State of the Nation Address in July, ordered that these outfits be outlawed and for them wind down operations by the end of the year, citing the criminal activity connected with the industry.
Under this year’s national budget, the PNP had its intelligence fund cut to P908.025 million from P1.356 billion last year.
Citing PNP data as of May this year, there have been 5,800 victims of POGO-related crimes.
The Senate and law enforcement agencies have been looking into crimes related to POGOs after a dismissed town Mayor was accused of coddling an illegal offshore gaming company in Bamban, Tarlac.
Dismissed Mayor Alice L. Guo has said she was a victim of the POGO issue, saying a larger global syndicate was behind these operations.
“Law enforcement agencies such as the PNP need to double down on their efforts to flush out all POGOs, particularly those that are involved in illegal activities such as kidnap-for-ransom, human trafficking, and online scamming,” Mr. Gatchalian said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez