33 POGO workers from raided hubs in Bamban, Pasay deported

Thirty-three employees of raided Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hubs in Bamban, Tarlac and Pasay City were deported to China on Thursday.

According to GMA Integrated News’ Saleema Refran’s report on Unang Balita, the workers were from the Smart Web Technology in Pasay City, where a torture chamber was discovered after it was raided in 2023, and the Zun Yuan Technology in Bamban.

The same report said the workers are being deported for being undesirable aliens due to a lack of permits and visas, adding that they will also face charges of engaging in illegal gambling in China.

“Technically kasi lahat ng mga yan will be treated as criminal suspects in China. So they will all be charged criminally in China,” Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) spokesperson Winston Casio said.

Meanwhile, PAOCC Executive Director Gilbert Cruz said many victims of these POGO workers were in China.

“Maraming biktima. And yung coordination na ginagawa natin with the Chinese authorities, nakikita natin yung mga biktima sa kanila, sa China, and then yung scamming hub o yung mga scammers dito nang gagaling sa atin,” he said.

(There are many victims. Our coordination with Chinese authorities show that there are victims in China and then the scamming hub or the scammers are coming from the Philippines.)

Meanwhile, according to Casio, all of the POGO workers will be blacklisted.

However, he said that those who will leave the country voluntarily with their papers in order will not be blacklisted by the government.

“Pero even if they leave voluntarily, if their papers are not in proper order then they will still be blacklisted,” he said.

Among those deported was a couple with their two-year-old child, who was born in the Philippines.

The PAOCC, however, said the child’s nationality remains to be Chinese as his or her parents are Chinese.

During his third State of the Nation Address, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said he is banning all POGOs in the country by the end of the year. — Joahna Lei Casilao/RSJ, GMA Integrated News