PCCCII: Abductions not reported because Chinese POGO workers fear deportation

Chinese who are employed at Philippine offshore gaming operations do not report cases of abduction because they are afraid of getting deported, an official of the Philippine Chinese Chamber of Commerce and Industry Inc. (PCCCII) said on Thursday.

At a hearing of the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs, PCCCII secretary general Bengsum Ko stood by the group's information that 56 kidnapping incidents had happened in a span of just 10 days.

PNP officer-in-charge Police Lieutenant General Jose Chiquito Malayo told the committee that he immediately asked the Anti-Kidnapping Group (AKG) about the alleged 56 cases.

“They cannot substantiate when did these incidents happen and where. So, we stand on our statistics that the 56 crime incidents did not happen" Malayo said.

Ko said the AKG statistics were of reported cases.

“As we all know POGO… is illegal in China… So, whoever is working with the POGO or employees, if they are abducted or kidnapped by anybody else, they would not want to go to the authorities,” Ko said.

“Because once they go to the authorities and it’s reported to the Chinese Embassy, immediately they would be deported back to China and they would be banned from going out of the country for the next five years,” he added.

Senator Ronald “Bato” Dela Rosa, the chairman of the committee, urged the PNP and the PCCCII to coordinate with each other.

“Wag niyo ibigay sa kanila ‘yung burden of proof. Since nilabas nila sa public ‘yung numbers na ‘yan, you have to seek their cooperation na hanapin itong 56 na ito,” Dela Rosa said. —NB, GMA News