No connecting flights for POGO deportees, PAOCC urged

The Presidential Anti Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) has urged the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to stop individuals formerly associated with the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) to take connected flights as part of their deportation process.

“We made a plea with the Bureau of Immigration. The unit that deports… We made a plea to them, do not allow transit flights for deportation if it is via voluntary deportation, via departure, or via summary deportation especially if they are Chinese,” PAOCC Spokesperson Winston Casio said in a news forum.

He lamented that some deportees usually take flights that pass through other countries before reaching their home countries — and in the process — disappear before their next flight.

“Other Chinese citizens are smart, they are getting tickets for deportation, Manila-Kuala Lumpur, Manila-Macau-Shanghai [flights]. When they arrive in Macau, when they arrive in Kuala Lumpur, they do not board their connecting flight back to China. That is not allowed,” he said in a news forum.

Casio stressed that deportation flights should be a direct flight.

He also mentioned that the Chinese government has an extraterritorial provision, which states that their citizens will face the same legal consequences for committing a crime, such as gambling outside of China as they would if the crime were committed within their country.

Casio added that authorities in China also share their findings with PAOCC, enabling the commission to run after POGO bosses who are still in the Philippines.  

"When authorities conduct their investigations in China, they share the results of their investigation back to the commission. They give us a copy of the report and then we can catch up with their bosses here in the Philippines. It’s very important that they should be set back directly to China," he said.

Earlier, PAOCC disclosed that it has deported 2,121 POGO workers since December 2024 and are awaiting 337 to be deported next. These individuals are waiting for their documents to be processed prior to departure back to their home countries.