PAOCC receives death threats amid illegal POGO probe

The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said Sunday some of its personnel have received death threats amid its investigation into the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hubs.

“Well opo, kami ay nakakatanggap ng ilang mga pagbabanta. Pero siguro po naman ay 'yun ay mga pananakot lamang,” PAOCC spokesperson Winston John Casio said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview. 
(Yes, we have been receiving some threats. But maybe these are just merely to scare us off.) 

Due to this, Casio said that they are always on the lookout for anything that may occur. 

“We have to be careful, so to speak, mahirap na po [it’s difficult],” he said. 

The PAOCC was behind some of the recent major raids in POGO hubs involved in criminal activities, including those in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac, Pampanga. 

These led to the rescuing of hundreds of Filipinos and foreign nationals, including Chinese, Malaysians, and Vietnamese. Some of those who were rescued were torture and kidnap victims.

Several foreigners were also arrested following these raids. 

In light of this, Casio maintained that PAOCC is a civilian agency, and its personnel are only analysts and normally do not use weapons when conducting raid operations.

“Bagama't meron kaming mangilan-ngilang mga pulis na kasamang aktibo, ito po ay mga intelligence officers lamang. At karamihan sa amin ay mga civilian ho talaga kami, mga analysts. Ang aming trabaho ay tumingin sa mga datos, pag-aralan, at gumawa ng mga rekomendasyon,” he said. 

(Although we have a few active police officers, they are mainly intelligence officers. Most of us are actually civilians and analysts. Our job is to look at data, analyze it, and make recommendations.) 

“Itong mga nagagawa namin nung nakaraan na mga raids, mostly coordination lang ang ginagawa namin--management do’n sa kaso to make sure na ang kaso ay laging above board at maayos at ng sa gayon ay masampahan natin ng maayos na kaso ‘yung mga nasa likod nito,” he added.

(In the raids that we have recently conducted, we mostly perform coordination. We manage the cases to make sure that they are always above board, and so we can file proper charges against those responsible.)

The PAOCC earlier said there are around 300 POGOs illegally operating in the country that do not wish to be regulated by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR). —RF, GMA Integrated News