Malaysian victim details ordeal in Bamban POGO; explicit torture videos aired

A Malaysian rescued from the raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) hub in Bamban, Tarlac testified before a House inquiry into POGO-linked crimes on Wednesday, with his account corroborated by videos showing physical and sexual assault. 

"Dylan," who testified with assistance from Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) spokesperson Winston Casio, said he only came to the Philippines to celebrate Chinese New Year at the invitation of a friend in Bamban, but the same friend sold him off to work in the Bamban POGO hub for P300,000 without him knowing.

Dylan then said that his phone was confiscated from him, but not before he took photos of his bruises from the physical assault inflicted on him.

“Dylan was told that he should work for six months in Bamban to pay off his debt since he was sold to work there, and there were times that Dylan goes against the instruction of these criminals, kaya siya nabubugbog [that is why he was being beaten up],” Casio told the House public order and safety committee.

“The Malaysian embassy was able to seek assistance from us because Dylan was able to send photos of his face beaten black and blue to the Malaysian embassy before his phone got taken away from him," he added. 

The ordeal of four other victims could be seen in videos provided by the PAOCC, although Casio did not specify if the four videos happened in the POGO hubs in Bamban or in Porac, Pampanga, where the authorities recently conducted a raid. 

One video showed a Chinese woman being repeatedly being hit in the face and body until she falls to the floor, which did not stop her torturers from continuing their assault. 

The second video showed a Chinese man bound to a bed while being tortured with a taser.

The third video showed another man also being tasered on his nipples and genitalia, leaving him screaming in pain. 

The last video featured a Malaysian male crouched on the floor and crying and whimpering in pain as he is repeatedly hit with a bat, but Casio said PAOCC was unable to rescue this victim since he had already died.

Lanao del Sur lawmaker Zia Adiong then suggested that showing the videos be stopped, saying not everybody “has a low tolerance on watching torture videos, especially women.” 

“There are kids who may view these videos. Testimony is enough,” he said. 

At least two of his colleagues, however, disagreed and said the hard watch was necessary.

“Gruesome as it may be, mahirap iyong nagkukwentuhan lang tayo kasi minsan pag nagkukwentuhan tayo, nakakatulog tayo eh. It is very important for the people to know what is happening against these illegal POGO hubs. You feel the pain…and people will be able to understand what are the authorities doing about these?,” Gomez said.

(It's hard if we're just talking to each other because sometimes words can make us doze off.)

House public order and safety chairperson and Laguna lawmaker Dan Fernandez agreed, saying visuals are important to assure the public that criminals are not treated with kid gloves under the administration of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. 

“We have to send a message to Filipinos and the international community that this government is taking [decisive] action to help the victims of these crimes,” Fernandez added.

Fernandez, however, relented that the videos shown were already enough at that point. 

A female Filipino who worked for an offshore gaming operator in Myanmar who was rescued by the authorities also testified during the hearing, saying that she was promised a sales/marketing job but it turns out that she will serve as a love scammer or a woman whose job is to make rich men fall for her and swindle money off these wealthy men. 

“I was promised work in Thailand,” the Filipino female said. 

“This only shows that these POGO-linked crimes are not just happening here. It is an ASEAN problem,” Casio added.