Senate seeks probe of PAGCOR’s gaming licensee in alleged criminal ops

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Monday filed a resolution seeking to investigate the involvement of Smart Web Technology Corporation, an Internet Gaming Licensee of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, in the operations of the alleged criminal syndicates in the country.

Senate Resolution 853 directed a committee to investigate the previous operations of  Smart Web under Freego Gaming OPC and Xushen Technology Corporation, which were previously licensed by PAGCOR, as accredited service providers of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator. 

The Pasay City-based company was raided by the members of the Philippine National Police with 731 Filipino and foreign nationals subjected to questioning after the raid.

During the raid, two of the Chinese nationals working on the premises claimed that they were victims of kidnapping and showed "torture marks" on their bodies.

One of them also claimed that he was kidnapped and sold for P500,000 from another POGO. 

Gatchalian lamented how "obvious that organized criminal syndicates are already operating in our country as evidenced by the human trafficking victims and even the torture chamber."

In filing the resolution, he noted that these syndicates have already corrupted local enforcers "enabling them to operate freely even beside the police station." 

Meanwhile, Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros expressed her appreciation to the PNP for relieving members of Pasay City police officers from their posts after the raid.

"The Committee on Women will also conduct an ocular inspection of the building on Friday to understand the scale of the problem," she said. 

"We thank the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, and the PNP Women and Children Protection Center for leading the raid that revealed the illegal activities in this POGO and for rescuing victim-survivors of human trafficking," she added. 

Hontiveros also pressed the need to probe the involvement of police officers in the illegal POGO operations. 

"Paano nga ba nakalusot ito? (How did it get through?) The Pasay police officers were either negligent or complicit. Ang nakakabahala baka matagal na silang nasa bulsa ng mga Chinese mafia (It is worrisome to know that they might have been under the pockets of the Chinese mafia for a long time)," she said.

"This makes me wonder if there are other police stations across the country that are covering up for POGOs," she added.

Hontiveros urged the PNP to further investigate similar patterns in other areas. 

"The police are supposed to enforce law and order, not sanction crime and chaos," she said.