PAOCC raid yields torture videos of POGO victims in Pasay
A recent raid of a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) dorm facility in Pasay City led to the discovery of 12 torture videos by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC).
PAOCC Executive Director Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz (Photo from PAOCC Facebook page)
PAOCC Executive Director Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz said during a media forum in Quezon City over the weekend that it rescued 34 Indonesians being held by four Chinese nationals.
He shared that when the team entered the condo unit of one of the Chinese kidnappers, they rescued a victim who was even in handcuffs and was being tortured.
“And then, when we looked at his cellphone, nakakita pa kami ng mga torture videos. Parang sa kanila, parang laruan na lang iyong tinu-torture (we saw torture videos. For them, torture is like a game),” the official lamented.
In one of the videos they seized from the operations, a Chinese woman, whose photo in a China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) uniform they later found, was also seen tasering another woman in her genitals.
Another showed a man with a gun pointed at him.
Cruz said that POGO operators have become brazen that they now have army recruits to handle the torturing of these victims when in the past, they hired Filipinos to do the killing, kidnapping, and torture.
“Pero ngayon ho, sila-sila na lang (Now, it’s just them). They have their own enforcers,” he shared.
“Ito, nandito sa atin iyong isang Chinese na mabalasik, na POGO boss, na siyang pasimuno sa pangingidnap (The ruthless Chinese are here now, the POGO boss, the instigator of kidnapping),” the PAOCC official added.
Cruz disclosed that kidnapping charges will be filed against those in the condo unit, while those involved in the torture will also face charges of serious physical injuries.
So far, the PAOCC is still monitoring small-scale POGO operators who have scaled down their operations but continue to exist despite a ban imposed by President Marcos.
These POGO operators, Cruz said, have the “best resources”—from guns to cars to condo units.
The President ordered the closure of all POGOs during his 2024 State of the Nation Address (SONA), pointing out their criminal activities, such as human trafficking and kidnapping.
But 8,000 POGO workers are still up for deportation after they failed to leave the country by the Dec. 31, 2024 deadline.