The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said it was now preparing to launch two large-scale operations against Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) not only to disturb their operations but also to arrest individuals involved in the activity.

PAOCC spokesman Dr. Winston Casio said this as the agency awaits the report about the raids conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) on POGO hubs these past few weeks.

In an interview over State-run PTV-4, Casio said the PAOCC has formed a task group ahead of planned large-scale operations against POGOs that still operate in the country despite President Marcos’ decision to ban them. 

The members of the said task group include the PAOCC, PNP, NBI, the Bureau of Immigration (BI), the Department of Justice (DOJ), and the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC).

“Mayroon po kaming task group na nabuo bago pa maglabas ng direktiba, ng presidential directive to ban. So, mayroon kaming dalawa na binubuong malalaking operasyon sa susunod na mga linggo (We have already formed a task force even before President Marcos issued his directive to ban POGOs. So, we are planning two large-scale operations in the next few weeks),” he said.

“Malalaki po kasi ito, kaya (These are big operations, that’s why) we are taking the necessary—we are going to the necessary legal procedure para talagang ma-neutralize po natin, hindi lang basta operation na mabulabog natin, kung hindi ay (to neutralize them and not just disturb them. So that) we are able to get them, file charges, deport and forfeit their properties,” he added.

The good news, according to Casio, is that the POGOs that were legally operating before the President’s directive have started to wind down their operations.

“A good number of them may be leaving the country even before the Dec. 31 deadline,” he said.

However, he said that the illegal POGOs remain to be the problem as they continue to continue to conduct “guerrilla operations.”

“The real problems that we have at this point are the illegal POGOs… That’s the one that’s causing us the biggest headache at this point. Kaya tuluy-tuloy pa po ang aming monitoring para makapag-file kami ng mga (That’s why we continue to monitor them so we can file for) warrants to operate against them,” Casio said.

In June, a month before President Marcos announced his decision to ban POGOs, the PAOCC said that it was keeping an eye on 58 POGOs illegally operating in the country despite having their licenses already cancelled by the government.

Meanwhile, Casio said on Wednesday that foreign nationals working on POGOs have also started to voluntarily exit the Philippines.

“Ayon sa pakikipag-ugnayan ng mga foreign embassies, humahaba na po iyong mga pila ng kumukuha ng mga travel documents ng kanilang mga nationals na dating nagtatrabaho sa mga POGO (Based on our communication with foreign embassies, the number of foreign nationals who worked in POGOs getting their travel documents have increased),” he said.

“So, a good number are voluntarily leaving the country, nakikita po namin iyan sa mga monitoring sa mga social media and our other assets, human assets (We see this when we monitor social media and our other human assets),” he added.