President Ferdinandd "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. (left), Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez (Facebook)

Saying that President Marcos' patience shouldn't be tested, Cagayan de Oro City 2nd district Rep. Rufus Rodriguez prodded the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) to close down all remaining illegal Philippine Offshore Gambling Operators (POGOs). 

The Mindanao lawmaker made the appeal in the wake of the revelation of Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) Executive Director Gilbert Cruz over the weekend that there are still “around 200” illegal POGOs that are operating. 

“Let us not wait for President BBM (Bongbong Marcos) to get upset over the fact that illegal POGOs are defying his directive,” Rodriguez said in a statement, Sunday, Sept. 8. 

“[DILG] Secretary [Benhur] Abalos should instruct the Philippine National Police (PNP) to enforce the President’s directive and padlock these POGOs. [Department of] Justice (DOJ) Secretary Crispin Remulla should direct the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) to help in the effort,” he said. 

Abalos is the chairman of the National Police Commission (Napolcom), which has supervision over PNP. 

In his State of the Nation Address (SONA) last July 22, President Marcos ordered an immediate ban on Illegal POGOs, while legal POGOs will have to close shop by the end of the year. 

The Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp. (Pagcor) has estimated that illegal operators numbered 400. PAOCC and other law enforcement agencies have shuttered big POGO hubs in Bamban, Tarlac and in Porac, Pampanga. 

“The report of Executive Director Cruz shows that hundreds of underground POGO operators are flouting President BBM’s directive. Secretary Abalos and Secretary Remulla should see to it that this is now strictly enforced,” Rodriguez said. 

Rodriguez urged Cruz to share his agency’s information with the PNP and NBI. He also suggested that the PNP and the NBI coordinate with PAOCC, the Department of Information Communications and Technology (DICT), and telecommunications companies.


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“Coordination with the DICT and telcos is important because POGOs, whether legal or illegal, are using the internet and mobile phones, which can give clues to the locations of POGO activities,” he said. 

Rodriguez noted that thousands of mobile phone subscriber information module (SIM) cards were discovered by the authorities inside the illegal POGO hub in Porac. 

“So it should not be difficult for technology-equipped agencies like the PNP, NBI and DICT to detect illegal POGO operations,” he said. 

According to Cruz, illicit POGOs have downscaled their operations “from one building to maybe one floor.”