The news continues to be troubling for the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and for agencies called upon to oversee their operations. Philippine Senator Richard Gordon demanded answers on March 3, asking how the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) has been overseeing POGOs in a Senate plenary session.
Gordon expressed his concern that the AMLC has been virtually silent while numerous investigations are going on. In the last two weeks alone, it has been discovered that Bureau of Immigration (BI) officials had been working with POGOs operators to assist Chinese migrants to illegally enter the country by providing false documentation. These actions were made to help these migrants to work in these operations despite not having the legal status to be able to do so.
Then came a report that a Chinese POGO employee was shot and killed during an apparent money exchange deal. Two suspects have been arrested and charged with the murder. Both were discovered to have fake IDs for the People’s Liberation Army (PLA), but their attempt to exchange large sums of cash had Gordon wondering if China was sneaking money into the Philippines to fund espionage.
It also has Gordon wondering what is going on in agencies like the AMLC, which are expected to monitor for money laundering issues. During the March 3 session, Gordon acknowledged that Senator Joel Villanueva’s suspicions about the AMLC covering up suspicious transactions involving Chinese-owned POGOs and POGO service providers is a valid concern.
During the hearing, Villanueva, who is the chairman of the Senate labor and employment committee, noted that of the 59 POGOs operations, only 11 are Philippine-based, while 48 are internationally based, along with an additional 229 service providers.
Villanueva asked if there is any information regarding alleged corrupt activity. To this, Gordon responded, “Actually, Mr. President, I don’t want to insult the AMLC, but their silence is deafening. I would have imagined them to be more aggressive in telling us that this is a problem we can do something about.”
A March 5 Senate hearing is set to look into money smuggling and laundering allegations. According to Gordon, the Bureau of Customs (BoC) admits that a total of US$447 million or P22.69 billion “dirty” cash was brought into the country by 47 individuals from September 2019 to February 2020, declared as foreign exchange investment, travel, and casino, and for business purposes.
