PAOCC to create 'safety nets' after alleged POGO workers escape raid in Makati

The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) is planning to create “safety nets” after no employees were found in the raided Makati building allegedly used in Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) scam activities.

“Gagawa na tayo ng mga safety nets natin. Dati naman kasing talagang ganyan, hindi naman natin maiiwasan minsan mayroong talaga may kakaliwang ang isipan na magsusumbong dun sa mga ire-raid natin pero siguro sa susunod mas magiging ma-ingat na tayo,” PAOCC executive director Gilbert Cruz said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview on Sunday.

(We will create safety nets, because we can’t avoid, as had happened before, that someone will snitch on us. We will be more careful in the future.)

Cruz said they will decide as to whether or not the owner of the building should be held accountable.

“Pag-uusapan ni Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin kasi legal na po yung labanan dyan. Aside from closure order na pinataw ng Makati Business Permit and Licensing Office, ano pa ba yung administrative or criminal sanction ang pwede ipataw sa mga administration ng building,” said the PAOCC head.

(Aside from the closure order of the Makati Business Permit and Licensing Office, we will discuss with Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin the possible administrative or criminal sanctions we could file against the building’s administrators.)

He added PAOCC will also question the building’s security agency since the last person to enter the building logged in at around 4 p.m., but when PAOCC raided the 21-storey building at around 6 p.m., no personnel were inside the premises.

In the same interview, Cruz also said PAOCC is planning to deport over 1,000 POGO workers in the next  two to three weeks.  

Since last year, a total of 30 foreign POGO workers have surrendered to the PAOCC, while another seven Indonesians surrendered earlier this week.  

The Bureau of Immigration earlier said 121 POGO workers out of the 518 arrested this year have been deported. — RF, GMA Integrated News