Lucky South 99 denies illegal activities at Porac POGO hub

Lucky South 99 Corp. on Sunday denied illegal activities occurred at the  Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub that they operated  in Porac, Pampanga, saying that the allegations were “just speculation.”

“When they took over the place, there was somebody subjected to torture,  there were persons subjected to these inhuman conduct or activities so it could be speculated that this may occur. But there's no sound basis for that,” Lucky South 99 legal counsel Atty. Jovito Barte said during a media forum.

“Kung ano man ang nakuha doon, kung ano  man illegal, eh di ikaso nila. But to conclude na ito ay pang torture,  ginamit pang torture, sino at kailan ito nangyari?” he added.

(Whatever they obtained, whatever items are illegal, then file a case. But to conclude that there was torture, that the items were used for torture, who was involved and when did this happen?)

Earlier this month, authorities allegedly discovered torture victims at the POGO compound, and an alleged torture room and torture tools such as batons and baseball bats.

A woman was also reportedly sold online for sex at the compound.

Barte also denounced the warrantless arrest of foreigners during the raid as authorities were only granted a search warrant.

“Ang law enforcement agency pag nag aarest sila ng tao, under the rules,  dapat mag co-commit ng crime, nag commit ng crime, o kakatapos lang mag  commit ng crime. But none of these things happened. So inaresto sila dahil  sila foreigners, so ibigsabihin nagkaroon ng discrimination dun sa mga  tao nandoon,” Barte said.

(When a law enforcement agency is arresting a person, under the rules, that person should be about to commit a crime, must have committed a crime, or just finished committing a crime. But none of these things happened. So they were arrested because they were foreigners. So that means there was discrimination against the people there.)

A total of 158  foreign employees were rescued during the operation. — DVM, GMA Integrated News