Police are now working with the Bureau of Immigration (BI) for the repatriation of all the more than 1,200 foreigners who were rescued in a raid in an alleged Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) hub in Las Piñas City last month.
Police Brig. Gen. Sidney Hernia, director of the Philippine National Police-Anti-Cybercrime Group (PNP-ACG), said BI agents have already completed the biometrics of all the rescued foreigners although he admitted that some of them refused to undergo the process.
“We have recommended all of them to be repatriated so we are hoping that the BI would send them all back to their countries of origin in the soonest possible time,” said Hernia.
The more than 1,200 foreigners from various countries in the Middle East, Southeast Asia and Africa were among the 2,774 alleged POGO workers who were rescued when ACG operatives implemented search warrants for possible violations of human trafficking and cybercrime laws on June 27 in Barangay Almazan Uno.
It took several days before the PNP and the BI were able to process the rescued foreigners—seven of them turned out to be fugitives from China and Taiwan.
Hernia said more than half of the foreigners rescued were not able to present passports and police suspect that their employers seized them in order for them not to escape.
He said part of the processing was the coordination with the embassy officials of the rescued foreigners.
“According to the BI, it will issue an Allow Departure Order (ADO) for all these foreign nationals. So we are waiting for that ADO,” said Hernia.
Hernia said they are now conducting investigation to identify those who seized the passports of the rescued foreigners.
The ACG earlier reported that they have already filed a case against five Chinese in connection with the raids.
The Department of Justice, meanwhile, criticized the PNP-ACG for conducting the raids without coordination with the department through the Bureau of Immigration.