DoJ blames PNP for bungling POGO raid in Las Piñas City

THE DEPARTMENT of Justice (DoJ) on Monday blamed police for failing to coordinate its raid of a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) facility in Las Piñas City suspected of human trafficking, which eventually netted zero arrest.

The Philippine National Police Anti-Cybercrime Group raided the POGO on June 27 before building up the case, Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla told a virtual news briefing in mixed English and Filipino.

“The DoJ and PNP Anti-Cybercrime Group had agreed to conduct a case buildup before we do raids, and everyone we arrest should have evidence against them,” he said. “This was not followed.”

Police arrested five Chinese suspects who were later released for preliminary investigation.

“The police were not able to file cases against those arrested since there was not enough evidence to file criminal cases against them and there were no specific grounds for the arrest,” Mr. Remulla said

Police rescued more than 2,000 Filipino and foreign workers from the POGO facility than runs an online casino in Las Piñas.

He added that the government has deported foreign workers without visas, while the Filipinos were allowed to go home. The Bureau of Immigration will also cancel the visas of foreign workers who were yet to be deported.

“Police are used to arresting people without cases,” the Justice chief said. “The DoJ will not tolerate this and we will not allow it.”

Senator Rafael “Raffy” T. Tulfo criticized the lack of coordination between law enforcement, Immigration officers, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and labor agencies in addressing issues involving POGOs.

Thirteen days had passed and police investigation remained unclear, particularly on the criminal liability of people behind the POGO operation, he told a news briefing.

The senator said 2,714 workers were rescued — 1,284 foreign and 1,430 Filipinos — during the raid of Xinchuang Network Technology, Inc. or Hong Tai in Las Piñas City.

He said four Chinese and three Taiwanese nationals working for Xinchuang had been turned over to the Bureau of Immigration for deportation. But investigators should first find out whether they were guilty of human trafficking before deporting them, he pointed out.

Cops were also using the foreigners as milking cows by extorting money from them in exchange for their freedom, Mr. Tulfo said, citing a “reliable source” from the police headquarters in Quezon City.

Last week, Valenzuela City Mayor Weslie T. Gatchalian ordered a ban on POGO operators, citing their links to crimes such as human trafficking involving Chinese nationals.

The DoJ in March released a circular that ordered prosecutors to take a more active role in the buildup of criminal cases by guiding policemen who are investigating crimes.

The circular also required prosecutors to drop criminal complaints not supported by evidence to help clear court dockets.

The Justice department earlier raised the standards for filing criminal cases, requiring state prosecutors to ensure cases lead to a “reasonable certainty of conviction” to ease jail congestion. The agency also halved the bail amount for poor Filipinos.

“What we’re trying to do is to increase our capacity-building programs for our law enforcement in order for us to perform our prosecutorial and investigative functions under a human rights lens,” Justice Undersecretary Hermogenes T. Andres told a symposium on criminal investigation training on June 26.

The Philippines’ inter-agency council against human trafficking in April vowed to boost cooperation with Social Welfare department and law enforcement agencies to combat new online trafficking schemes.

President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr. last month ordered the anti-trafficking council to thwart the “business of human trafficking.”

In the first two months of the year, 57 departures from the country’s international airports were tagged as possible cases of human trafficking, based on data from the Immigration bureau. — J.V.D. Ordonez