Pagcor Cancels Accreditation Of POGO Hub In Pampanga

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) announced on Tuesday, May 30, that it canceled the provisional accreditation of Sun Valley Clark in Clark Freeport Zone, Pampanga as an offshore gaming hub.

PAGCOR chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco said that the Sun Valley Clark Hub is “no longer suitable to maintain its provisional accreditation, nor be issued a full accreditation as an offshore gaming hub due to its failure to ensure a lawful and orderly conduct of offshore gaming by its occupants in its registered sites.”

It can be recalled that on May 4, an inter-agency search and rescue operation was conducted in Sun Valley after alleged criminal activities such as cryptocurrency investment scams, serious illegal detention and human trafficking activities were linked to CGC Technologies Inc. or CGC – an offshore gaming service provider that occupied one of the six buildings inside the offshore gaming hub. Of the six buildings, only two were accredited by PAGCOR.

The accreditation of CGC has been canceled earlier by PAGCOR.

A POGO hub is a complex that houses the operations, logistical, administrative and support services of PAGCOR-licensed offshore gaming operators and service providers. Among the facilities found in a POGO hub are office and residential spaces, food establishments, grocery stores or supermarkets, health and wellness facilities, recreational facilities, among others.

With the cancellation of Sun Valley Clark Hub, Tengco again reminded PAGCOR’s offshore gaming operators and service providers to avoid any involvement in criminal activities if they want to retain their accreditations and licenses.

“This serves as a warning to all our offshore gaming licensees and accredited service providers that PAGCOR is serious in its mission to uphold responsible and regulated gaming in the country. While we see the potential of offshore gaming in terms of our revenue-generation efforts, we do not condone their involvement in any criminal activity that violates the rights – not only of Filipinos but of other nationalities as well,” Tengco said.

The PAGCOR chief likewise warned foreign nationals to be more cautious in accepting attractive online job offers in the Philippines, which fraudsters use as a strategy to engage in human trafficking.

“PAGCOR would like to remind foreign nationals who are being offered attractive employment opportunities in the Philippines to check the credibility of the companies that they are applying in. By going the extra mile, they can protect themselves from possible scams and human trafficking activities,” he said.

Tengco added that PAGCOR is continuously coordinating with its partner government agencies including the Office of the President, Department of Justice, Department of the Interior and Local Government, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, and Bureau of Immigration to combat illegal activities linked to offshore gaming operations.

Human traffickers using POGOs as ‘legal cover’

Human traffickers are using Philippine offshore gaming operators or POGO as “legal cover” to perpetrate a cryptocurrency scam in the country, according to Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

During a Senate hearing on the “call center scam hub” supposedly happening at the Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga, Hontiveros said the Colorful and Leap Group managed to operate the scam as a sublessee of CGC .

“I have learned from the case of the Sun Valley. These scam hubs hide under the licenses of POGOs… POGOs provide a ‘legal layer’ to these hubs and the operations of these hubs remain beyond regulatory scrutiny,” Hontiveros said during an inquiry conducted on the human trafficking syndicate at Clark.

At least 1,090 foreign workers were rescued from the hub, which was raided by authorities on May 4.

The workers were reportedly forced to work up to 18 hours a day under strict conditions.

They were reportedly trained to attract their clients, who are old and moneyed people, into buying cryptocurrency from them.

Others reportedly get into a romantic relationship with their clients so they could extract money from them.

At least 12 personnel of the company – seven Chinese, four Indonesians and a Malaysian – had undergone inquest at the Department of Justice for human trafficking in relation to cybercrime, serious illegal detention and kidnapping, as well as violation of immigration laws.

“The workers seduce their customers by engaging in a video call with them in ‘video conference rooms’ that look like household rooms,” Hontiveros said.

The workers were reportedly detained and starved for days in a bare, dark room if they failed to scam a customer or if they wanted to quit, she said.

Hontiveros presented accounts of the workers, who revealed their ordeal at the hands of the traffickers.

She scored the PAGCOR for granting licenses to POGO companies used by syndicates in scamming.

“PAGCOR, as the regulator of POGOs, should be actively looking into the companies that they allow to operate in the country. Otherwise, it is, in effect, exacerbating this growing and disturbing humanitarian crisis in our region,” Hontiveros said.

She urged Malacañang to ban POGOs in the country due to a string of crimes attributed to these companies.

“I hope Malacañang has been paying attention and taking notes, because we have been investigating the social costs and crimes attributed to POGOS for three years already,” she said.