{"id":777019804,"date":"2024-10-11T09:26:38","date_gmt":"2024-10-11T12:26:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777019804"},"modified":"2026-04-22T05:15:32","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T08:15:32","slug":"illegal-gambling-in-the-philippines-38-arrested-in-raid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/illegal-gambling-in-the-philippines-38-arrested-in-raid","title":{"rendered":"Illegal gambling in the Philippines: 38 arrested in raid"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Police carried out a raid on an illegal offshore operator in Barangay Saavedra, Moalboal town.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 (Central Visayas) chief Anthony Aberin<\/strong> has announced that 38 undocumented foreigners suspected to be Chinese nationals were arrested in a raid on an unlicensed offshore gaming operator<\/strong> at an isolated resort villa in Barangay Saavedra in Moalboal town on Wednesday (October 8). Police seized computers and gadgets.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The operation was carried out by a team from the municipal government, local police and the local Bureau of Fire Protection. According to Aberin, initial reports indicated that the foreigners had been renting since September 28. Reports about the suspicious activities prompted an inspection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aberin stated, \u201cPRO-7\u2019s strong stance against POGO, POGO-like activities, and all illegal activities will continue and will remain unwavering. With the help of the LGUs, other agencies, and the community, let us make Central Visayas free from this type of menace, which destroys families and our country.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moalboal mayor Inocentes Cabaron <\/strong>said a request for a high-speed WiFi connection led to the discovery of the operator. He said: \u201cIt so happened that someone gave us the info. This Happy Bear establishment requested for a high-speed WiFi.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also:<\/strong> New interior secretary vows to shut all offshore gaming operators by year-end<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Porac officials suspended for alleged neglect in raid<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Ombudsman Samuel Martirez<\/strong> has ordered the preventive suspension of 12 officials of Porac town in Pampanga due to alleged neglect of duty in connection with illegal activities at an unlicensed offshore gaming operator.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The suspension is linked to a complaint filed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) regarding the raid on Lucky South 99<\/strong> and rescue of 187 workers<\/a> in June. The officials were accused of \u201cGross Neglect of Duty, which, if proven true, constitutes ground for their dismissal from the government service under the Revised Rules on Administrative Cases in the Civil Service.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to the Ombudsman, the case involves \u201cthe inaction and willful non-compliance of their duties\u2026 taken altogether, paved the way for the continuous operation of Lucky South 99.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Records indicated that Lucky South 99 was issued business permits for 2021, 2022, and 2023 despite an expired Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) licence.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Police carried out a raid on an illegal offshore operator in Barangay Saavedra, Moalboal town.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":33583,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Philippine authorities conducted a raid on an illegal offshore gaming operator in Moalboal, arresting 38 suspected Chinese nationals and seizing equipment. Concurrently, 12 Porac town officials were preventively suspended for alleged neglect of duty, allowing another unlicensed operator, Lucky South 99, to operate despite an expired PAGCOR license.","focusai_entities":"Anthony Aberin, Inocentes Cabaron, Samuel Martirez, Happy Bear establishment, Lucky South 99, Police Regional Office (PRO) 7 (Central Visayas), Bureau of Fire Protection (BFP), Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR)","focusai_location":"Philippines, Barangay Saavedra, Moalboal town, Central Visayas, Porac town, Pampanga","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"PAGCOR Licensing Oversight?","query":"What specific governance frameworks failed to prevent Lucky South 99 from operating with an expired PAGCOR license, and what systemic reforms are being implemented to address such lapses?"},{"label":"DILG Policy Impact?","query":"How will the DILG's stated commitment to shut down all offshore gaming operators by year-end impact the legitimate B2B and B2C licensing landscape and the overall investment climate in the Philippines?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[20326],"class_list":["post-777019804","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-illegal-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777019804","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777019804"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777019804\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777019833,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777019804\/revisions\/777019833"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/33583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777019804"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777019804"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777019804"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}