Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILABULLETIN)

Help the government "flush out" foreign workers of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) so that authorities can deport them. 

This was Surigao del Norte 2nd district Rep. Robert Ace Barbers' appeal to the public Wednesday, July 31, in the week following President Marcos' declaration of a total ban on POGOs. 

“Based on our ongoing probe on POGOs and illegal drugs involving Chinese nationals, we all know that a number of them, who have pending criminal cases from their countries of origin, are still in the country and would rather stay and hide here than face the risk of being deported and punished at home,” he said in a statement. 

The public, Barbers said, may use the various social media platforms, or report directly to the concerned local government units, immigration and law enforcement agents, about the presence of “underground” POGO offices and workers in their respective localities. 

Better yet, these foreign POGO workers can just voluntarily submit themselves to local authorities, particularly to the Bureau of Immigration (BI), for their smooth repatriation to their respective countries of origin. 

In his SONA last July 22, the President ordered the banning “effective immediately” of all POGO gaming operations and directed the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) to wind down and cease the gambling firms’ operation by the end of the year. 

He also tasked the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) was tasked to find jobs for the displaced Filipino workers. 

Barbers said POGOs--renamed by Pagcor last year as Internet Gaming Licensees (IGLs)--had been used as convenient cover by some unscrupulous Chinese nationals engaged in drug trafficking, money laundering, kidnapping, murder, human trafficking, financial scamming, prostitution, torture and other criminal activities. 

“Online gambling by POGOs may provide us much-needed revenues. But they are not worth it compared to the menace they brought to us. In 2019, reports said it created a diplomatic clash between China and the Philippines. China has warned that POGOs can worsen criminality, specifically money laundering, branding them the most ‘dangerous tumor in modern society’ disliked by all people worldwide. Instead, the government allowed them to flourish purportedly for revenues,” the Mindanaoan said, 

“And as early as November 2019, if you can recall, I already assailed, in a privilege speech, that POGOs could be used by crime groups for money laundering and illegal drug trafficking. Only a few listened. But I think I was later proven right,” Barbers said. 

POGOs proliferated during the previous Duterte administration.