SC to look into POGO insiders in judiciary

The Supreme Court yesterday said it will look into the “eyes and ears” of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) in the judiciary as claimed by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian.

This is the response of Atty. Camille Sue Mae Ting, spokesperson of the Supreme Court (SC), saying they will look into it.

“Good morning. The Supreme Court will investigate these allegations. Thank you,” said Atty. Ting when asked about Sen. Gatchalian’s statement.

The senator on Thursday said the recent raid in a POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga showed the possible influence of Chinese syndicates on the Judiciary.

From the information he received, the senator said the POGO hub has a seating capacity of more than 1,000 agents, meaning it has 1,000 workers, but only 140 plus were nabbed because apparently when PAOCC filed an application for a search warrant, someone tipped the operators.

“My hunch is that the people behind the POGOs have insiders not just in law enforcement agencies, but even in the judiciary. We may notice that the last few warrants of arrest that came out were from Bulacan courts. Perhaps the criminals know that operations will be held in the same area. They have gained ‘eyes and ears’ in the court and they are tipped about what’s coming,” said the senator.

He added that, “Again, these criminals know how to move with the help of their cohorts. This is evidence that they have people under their command, who will give them tips about law enforcement operations.”

Gatchalian said this in a forum on Thursday in which he expressed alarm over the report by intelligence agencies during an executive session in the Senate on Wednesday, indicating that the Chinese criminal syndicates behind the POGO operations in Bamban are already working with local criminals, law enforcers, and even local politicians.

The lawmaker said that after the first part of the executive session with intelligence agencies, he got goosebumps because they confirmed that the POGOs’ roots run deep, as they had feared.

“When we say deep, that means their influence affects politicians and law enforcement agencies like the police, Bureau of Immigration. Third, they mention that they are working with local criminal syndicates,” said the lawmaker.

Citing information from intelligence agencies, Gatchalian said there are some local politicians who are “part of the web” that operated the POGO hub in Bamban, though their participation in the said POGO operations was not elaborated.

He said the intelligence community showed a web linked to politicians, enforcers, criminal syndicates, even businessmen.

Currently, the Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality is investigating the raided POGO hub in Bamban, Tarlac in which Bamban Mayor Alice Guo’s alleged involvement in the establishment of the POGO hub in the town is highlighted and resulted to her six-month suspension.