JV Ejercito backs summary deportation of illegal, overstaying POGO workers
Senator Joseph Victor “JV” Ejercito on Tuesday, September 27 said he supports the summary deportation of around 2,000 illegal and overstaying workers employed by different Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) across the country.
Ejercito said these illegal and overstaying aliens should be deported, pointing out that foreign criminal syndicates have been taking advantage of POGOs to remain on Philippine soil and conduct criminal activities in the country.
“In fact, there might be some foreign national syndicates who are using the POGO business avenue to enter the country and conduct their criminal activities here. Not just Chinese criminal syndicates, but also Cambodian and Vietnamese criminal syndicates,” Ejercito said in a statement.
“The Bureau of Immigration (BI), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and Philippine National Police (PNP) and NBI should work double time to monitor and detect these kinds of operations,” he added.
Earlier, the Department of Justice (DOJ) announced it is planning to deport thousands of POGO workers by mid-October prompted by the recent spate of kidnappings and other criminal activities linked to POGOs .
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) has also terminated the licenses of around 175 POGOs throughout the country. The move is expected to displace around 40,000 foreign nationals working in the country, most of whom are Chinese.
Ejercito had filed Senate Resolution No. 194, which sought to direct the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs to conduct a probe on these “alarming” cases of kidnapping, abduction, and disappearances, specially those against women, POGO workers, and Filipino-Chinese individuals.
The lawmaker said the national government risks losing the confidence of foreign and local investors and the rest of the business sector if these security concerns are not addressed.
“Definitely, peace and order situation is the biggest factor in having a climate conducive for business to grow for us to be able to rebuild the economy after the pandemic,” Ejercito said.
“ Kailangan po maganda ang (We need a better) peace and order situation. Ngayon pa lang tayo nakakabuwelo (We are just starting to recover) after the two years of lockdown in the pandemic,” he stressed.