Gatchalian smells conspiracy between BI officers, foreign fugitives in POGOs

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Tuesday raised the possibility of conspiracy between Immigration officers and foreign fugitives who were captured during the recent raids of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) hubs.

Gatchalian, who is calling for a total ban on POGOs in the Philippines, made the statement as he disclosed that Chang Chia Wei, one of the 500 foreigners who were accounted for in the latest raid in a POGO facility in Bamban, Tarlac, is a foreign fugitive.

According to Gatchalian, a verification with the Bureau of Immigration was conducted and the biometrics of Chang Chia Wei revealed that he is tagged as a fugitive in Taiwan.

The Taiwanese national is currently in the custody of the BI for deportation, he added.

"Paano nakakapasok sa Pilipinas ang mga wanted fugitive mula sa ibang bansa? Sadyang nalulusutan lang ba tayo o talagang pinapalusot natin, alin ang tama?" Gatchalian said in a statement.

(How did these wanted fugitives enter the Philippines? Were they able to slip through our system or did our Immigration officers allow them to pass through? Which one is correct?)

"Foreign POGO workers turning out to be fugitives in their respective countries have become a common occurrence in all the POGO raids we have seen in recent years. This indicates that they are part of organized criminal syndicates. It boggles the mind that the BI is unable to detect the entry of these fugitives, indicating that some of their personnel could be in cahoots with these fugitives," he added.

Apart from the fugitive in the latest raid in Tarlac, Gatchalian also mentioned at least seven foreign fugitives—four Chinese nationals and three Taiwanese nationals—who were arrested during a raid in Las Piñas in June 2023.

He also noted the 17 foreign fugitives that were identified during a raid in Clark Special Economic Zone (CSEZ) in May last year.

Gatchalian stated that "these cases were also similar to the 'pastillas scam' wherein foreigners were whisked past immigration counters in exchange for money rolled in white paper made to look like the local milk pastry called pastillas.

The lawmaker then stressed that the Immigration officers should implement the same strict procedures in filtering outbound Filipino passengers to incoming foreigners "to prevent criminals from entering the country."

GMA News Online has sought the comment of BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval but she has yet to respond as of posting time.

In March last year, Gatchalian released a Senate ways and means committee chairman's report calling on the Marcos administration to ban POGOs completely as he concluded that the risks of allowing the continuous operations of POGOs outweigh their benefits to the country.

The report was introduced at the Senate plenary after the Senate ways and means committee, which Gatchalian chairs, conducted a series of hearings to assess the socioeconomic effects of the POGO industry.

The lawmaker said he sent his report to Malacañang as the Executive Department will make the decision on whether to ban POGOs or not. — VDV, GMA Integrated News