Last week, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (Paocc) and the Metro Manila Police’s Anti-Cyber ​​Crime Group (ACG) were at odds over a raid on an alleged Philippine hub of an offshore gambling operator ( POGO) of Manila, which ACG. performed.

Paocc said the raid was flawed because all 85 foreigners who were detained were eventually released without charge. ACG explained that she could not hold them because she could be accused of arbitrary detention.

Investigations like this add a discordant note to efforts to dismantle POGO, which was decreed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during his State of the Nation address last July.

There are still 211 illegal POGOs that have apparently gone underground. And law enforcement agencies seem to be operating without coordinating with each other to uncover them.

The president wants all POGOs shut down by the end of the year, saying they have “ventured into illicit areas far beyond gambling, such as financial fraud, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, torture brutality and murder”.

The wrongdoing has been exposed in a series of congressional inquiries that have established how well-entrenched and influential POGOs have become since setting up shop in the country in 2016.

Online gambling operators flourished in China until Beijing decided to crack down on them for mainly preying on Chinese citizens.

Looking for a new host, Chinese operators have found themselves welcomed in the Philippines, where the administration of new President Rodrigo Duterte has been seeking funding for its ambitious infrastructure program.

Among the incentives POGOs enjoyed was bringing in their own employees, who were mostly Chinese. At one point, 300,000 Chinese were working for POGO, along with recruits from Vietnam, Malaysia, and other Southeast Asian nations.

For a while, POGOs lived up to their billing. In 2020, operators paid £7.2 billion in fees, more than double the previous year.

Things turned around when the Covid pandemic dealt a heavy blow to the economy. Among the sectors that were heavily affected were online games.

POGOs estimated to generate 32 billion lei in taxes provided only about a third of this. The Internal Revenue Service soon came knocking.

POGOs have also been linked to a wide range of criminal activities, from kidnapping and prostitution to money laundering, human trafficking and crypto-scamming.

But even more sinister are revelations that gambling operators have infiltrated the government’s political infrastructure. Alice Guo’s deep involvement while she was still mayor of Bamban, Tarlac in her town’s POGO hub attests to this. Prominent political figures such as former presidential spokesman Harry Roque have also been asked to explain their association with POGO at congressional hearings.

Calls to shut down gambling operators have grown. Senators Grace Poe and Risa Hontiveros insisted that the social costs of keeping POGO are “too high.” Finance Secretary at the time Benjamin Diokno assured the public that the government could meet the financial shortfall once the POGOs go.

The ban even won rare praise from China. “POGO breeds serious crimes and seriously undermines the interests of both the Filipino and Chinese peoples,” the Chinese Embassy said. “China is ready to continue its strong law enforcement cooperation with the Philippines and better protect the safety and welfare of the two peoples.”

POGO defenders put up strong resistance. Senator Robinhood Padilla advocated allowing operators at least two years to phase out. Albay Representative Joey Salceda reiterated his argument that banning POGOs is “like burning down the whole house to get rid of the rats.”

Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) insisted that billions in revenue would be lost if POGOs were kicked out.

In a desperate move, Pagcor reclassified POGOs as Internet Gaming Licensees or IGLs to escape the death penalty. That didn’t work and the IGLs got the ax too.

The President has put his foot down: POGOs must go. If the December deadline is to be met, the agencies pursuing the remaining operators must get their act together. The hierarchy must be clear and must be respected.