Senator Joseph Victor "JV" Ejercito on Tuesday expressed his support for the summary deportation of around 2,000 overstaying workers employed by illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators across the country.
In a statement, Ejercito warned that foreign criminal syndicates have been taking advantage of POGOs to remain on Philippine soil and conduct criminal activities in the country.
"These illegal and overstaying aliens should be deported. In fact, there might be some foreign national syndicates who are using the POGO business avenue to enter the country and conduct their criminal activities here," Ejercito said.
"Not just Chinese criminal syndicates, but also Cambodian and Vietnamese criminal syndicates," he said. "The Bureau of Immigration, National Bureau of Investigation and Philippine National Police NBI should work double time to monitor and detect these kinds of operations."
The Department of Justice earlier announced it is planning to deport thousands of POGO workers by mid-October. This comes after the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation terminated the licenses of around 175 POGOs throughout the country.
The move, which was prompted by a recent spate of kidnappings and other criminal activities linked to illegal POGOs, is expected to affect around 40,000 foreign nationals working in the country, most of whom are Chinese.
Ejercito and Senator Grace Poe have previously filed separate resolutions seeking to direct the Senate Committee on Public Order and Dangerous Drugs to conduct a probe on these "alarming" cases of kidnapping, abduction, and disappearances, especially those against women, POGO workers, and Filipino-Chinese individuals.
The said committee has already started its investigation on the issue.
