The Office of the Ombudsman on Wednesday announced that it has suspended Porac, Pampanga Mayor Jaime Capil and 10 other municipal officials over allegations of gross neglect of duty related to a raided illegal POGO in their town in June.

In an order dated 8 October, Ombudsman Samuel Martires ordered the preventive suspension of Capil, Vice Mayor Francis Laurence Tamayo and councilors Rohner Buan, Rafael Canlapan, Adrian Carreon, Regin Clarete, Essel Joy David, Hilario Dimalanta, Michelle Santos, and John Nuevy Venzon, along with Emerald Vital, OIC-Business Permit and Licensing Office.

The local officials are preventively suspended for up to six months without pay pending the case's resolution.

In a statement, the Ombudsman said that the order -- which is immediately executory -- pertains to the administrative complaint filed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) over the “alleged involvement of particular local government officials…in the illegal POGO operation within the locality.”

In June, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, along with different police units, raided Lucky South 99 Corp., a POGO hub in Porac, where 160 foreign nationals, mostly Chinese, were apprehended. The authorities launched the operation over allegations of unlawful activities, such as torture and scam, against Lucky South.

Its authorized representative, Cassandra Li Ong, has been at the center of congressional hearings and is facing mounting criminal cases, including qualified human trafficking, a non-bailable offense.

Capil was accused of approving the issuance of a business permit to Lucky South from 2021 to 2023 -- with Vital’s alleged recommendation -- despite the purported absence of documents.

The issuance also allegedly transpired despite the impending expiration of Lucky South’s license from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation on 27 October last year.

According to the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Lucky South was originally incorporated in 2019 “for the primary purpose of engaging in business process outsourcing (BPO) activities.”

However, Lucky South was later found to be engaged in activities beyond those permitted for a BPO.

In 2021, 2022, and 2023, Lucky South reclassified itself as POGO, but the dealings for the transition were non-compliant with the mandated rules, including the submission of a letter of no objection, amended articles of incorporation, and registration documents from the SEC.

Capil had previously denied issuing a business permit to Lucky South. However, the Ombudsman order cited “sufficient grounds to hold that the evidence of guilt is strong at this time.”

It also stressed the gravity of the charge of gross neglect of duty “which if proven true, constitutes ground for the dismissal from the government service under the Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service.”