{"id":777023165,"date":"2025-02-20T09:54:53","date_gmt":"2025-02-20T12:54:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777023165"},"modified":"2026-04-22T01:36:05","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T04:36:05","slug":"philippine-paocc-considers-legal-action-against-pasay-city-officials","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-paocc-considers-legal-action-against-pasay-city-officials","title":{"rendered":"Philippine PAOCC considers legal action against Pasay City officials"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>PAOCC&#8217;s director said the majority of illegal offshore gaming hubs are located in Pasay, Para\u00f1aque and Makati.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) is considering <strong>legal action<\/strong> against officials in Pasay City due to the continued operation of illegal offshore gaming operators. During a press briefing on Wednesday (February 19), <strong>Winston Casio<\/strong>, director and spokesperson for PAOCC, said that the southern part of Metro Manila, including Pasay, Para\u00f1aque, and Makati, remained a hotspots for illegal offshore gaming operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Philippine News Agency, the PAOCC is gathering evidence against local government units (LGUs) after <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-authorities-raid-illegal-gambling-operation-in-pasay-city\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">raids on offshore gaming operators<\/a> in their areas and investigating whether officials might be responsible for allowing the operations to continue. Casio did not mention any probe for Para\u00f1aque or Makati.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said: &#8220;The very first raid that we conducted was SA Rivendell, which was in P. Zamora; the second was Zun Yuan Technology which is in corner FB Harrison and William Street, also in Pasay. We also conducted a raid in Kimberhi Technology, which is also in Pasay, that\u2019s the 3D Analyser offshore gaming operator. We also conducted lately a raid inside Heritage Hotel in Pasay.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He added: &#8220;We\u2019re taking a look at the possible culpability, criminal liability of LGU officials, primarily those in the issuances of the mayor\u2019s permit, the BPLO (Business Permit and Licensing Office) certificates, the business permit so to speak. So, we have not yet reached a conclusion, together with the Department of Justice and the DILG on how to proceed, but the case build-up is already ongoing. It\u2019s there.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bureau of Immigration (BI) spokesperson\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/filipinos-leaving-to-work-for-scam-operators-bureau-of-immigration-warns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Dana Sandoval<\/a>\u00a0has said that 11,254 foreign offshore gaming workers are still in the country despite the government&#8217;s order for them to leave. Sandoval said the workers are mainly from Vietnam, China, Indonesia, and Myanmar. They have been included in the BI&#8217;s derogatory records and face deportation and blacklisting. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sandoval clarified that the figure includes only workers who used to work for legal offshore gaming operators that had to close, not operators that were always illegal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"11K foreign POGO workers still in PH - PAOCC | Morning Matters\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/kDQA454Uk7w?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">Source: One PH.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), there are about 33,863 foreign nationals employed by registered offshore gaming operators, but only 22,609 have left the country. Those remaining are now considered illegal aliens.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Sandoval reported that about 518 foreign offshore gaming workers have been arrested in four significant operations this year. Sandoval said: &#8220;On January 8, we had operations in Para\u00f1aque which yielded to the arrest of 450 foreign nationals; January 15 in Silang, Cavite, 29 foreign nationals; January 17 in Para\u00f1aque, 33 foreign nationals; and February 17 in Pasay City, six foreign nationals.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\"><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\"><img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2021\/04\/The-Philippines-government-alerts-about-illegal-POGOs-300x200.jpg\" \/><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\"><span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/paocc-aims-to-eradicate-offshore-gaming-operators-by-year-end\">PAOCC aims to eradicate offshore gaming operators by year-end<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>PAOCC&#8217;s director said the majority of illegal offshore gaming hubs are located in Pasay, Para\u00f1aque and Makati.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":17179,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) is considering legal action against Pasay City officials for the continued operation of illegal offshore gaming operators, identifying Pasay, Para\u00f1aque, and Makati as hotspots. This initiative involves gathering evidence against local government units regarding permit issuances and addresses the presence of over 11,000 foreign offshore gaming workers deemed illegal aliens by the Bureau of Immigration, facing deportation and blacklisting.","focusai_entities":"Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), Winston Casio, Philippine News Agency, Department of Justice, DILG, Bureau of Immigration (BI), Dana Sandoval, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), SA Rivendell, Zun Yuan Technology, Kimberhi Technology, 3D Analyser offshore gaming operator, Business Permit and Licensing Office (BPLO)","focusai_location":"Philippines, Pasay, Para\u00f1aque, Makati, Metro Manila, Cavite, Silang","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.85), investor_analyst (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"LGU Culpability Impact","query":"What specific legal precedents or governance framework amendments might arise from the PAOCC's investigation into local government unit officials' culpability in facilitating illegal offshore gaming operations?"},{"label":"Foreign Worker Policy","query":"How will the Bureau of Immigration's enforcement actions regarding illegal foreign offshore gaming workers impact the labor supply and operational stability for licensed POGO operators in the Philippines?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,158,16333],"tags":[4138],"class_list":["post-777023165","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-online-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023165","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=777023165"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023165\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777023195,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023165\/revisions\/777023195"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17179"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777023165"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777023165"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777023165"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}