NBI subpoenas Zamboanga Sibugay officials over POGO hubs

The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has issued subpoenas to local officials of two towns in Zamboanga Sibugay, directing them to explain the presence of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) raided last month.

“We issued subpoenas already,” NBI Director Melvin Matibag said during a radio interview on Thursday, 5 November.

Matibag said the officials had been ordered to appear before NBI investigators this month.

The NBI’s Anti-Organized and Transnational Crime Division (AOCTD) has been tasked to lead the investigation.

The subpoenas followed the bureau’s raids on two POGO hubs in Siay and Alicia, Zamboanga Sibugay, on 2 October.

“We have to ask questions doon po sa mga LGUs dito tsaka ‘yung opisyal po kung paano po nagkaroon ng ganoon,” Matibag said.

(We have to ask questions of these local government units and their officials about how POGOs came to operate in their areas.)

Matibag said he found it difficult to believe that local officials were unaware of the operations, given the scale of the facilities.

The NBI chief said a total of 291 foreign nationals were rounded up during the two raids.