{"id":777023935,"date":"2025-03-11T08:51:39","date_gmt":"2025-03-11T11:51:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777023935"},"modified":"2026-04-22T00:57:48","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:57:48","slug":"paocc-aims-to-arrest-and-deport-remaining-illegal-offshore-workers-by-year-end","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/paocc-aims-to-arrest-and-deport-remaining-illegal-offshore-workers-by-year-end","title":{"rendered":"PAOCC aims to arrest and deport remaining illegal offshore workers by year-end"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The PAOCC\u2019s director estimates that 9,000 foreign offshore gaming workers remain in the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) <\/strong>director and spokesperson\u00a0Winston Casio<\/strong>\u00a0has said that he expects the remaining foreign offshore gaming workers to be arrested and deported by the end of the year. During the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon briefing over state-run PTV-4, Casio said over 1,000 offshore gaming workers who are in government custody will be deported in two to three weeks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said around 899 foreign nationals <\/strong>working in illegal offshore gaming hubs are currently detained at the PAOCC\u2019s detention facility in Pasay City, while an estimated 200 to 300 are in the custody of the Bureau of Immigration (BI). Casio said the PAOCC<\/a> is working with the BI and the Department of Justice\u2019s Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking to streamline the deportation process.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n
\"PAOCC
PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio. Source: Facebook.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n\n\n

He said: “If you add that up, from January until now, we have neutralised more than 1,000. If there are still 11,000 based on the records of the Bureau of Immigration, less 1,100, only more than 9,000 are still there<\/strong>. We have a whole-of-government approach. We are confident that towards the end of the year or earlier, we will be able to eliminate them all.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGCOR says some illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators remain active<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has warned that some illegal offshore gaming operators remain active but that all previously licensed operators have shut. Responding to questions from deputy minority leader\u00a0Risa Hontiveros<\/strong>\u00a0during a Senate hearing, assistant vice president\u00a0Jessa Fernandez<\/strong>\u00a0said all 42 licenses and 18 authorised service providers had been cancelled and 304 operating sites closed since the ban on offshore gaming came into effect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

PAGCOR senior vice president\u00a0Raul Villanueva<\/strong>\u00a0said some operators have splintered into smaller illegal groups, setting up operations inside residential subdivisions and urban peripheries.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He said: \u201cWe have observed that they have moved into smaller groups operating in residential areas. Unlike before, when we could inspect sites at any hour, we now face restrictions and need coordination with local government units, business permits offices and building administrators.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n

<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n

See also:<\/span> Philippine senator calls for review of inland online gaming licences<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The PAOCC\u2019s director estimates that 9,000 foreign offshore gaming workers remain in the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777018832,"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 Philippine government, through PAOCC and PAGCOR, is intensifying its crackdown on illegal offshore gaming operations, targeting the deportation of an estimated 9,000 foreign workers by year-end. This follows the cancellation of all 42 previously licensed POGO operators and 18 service providers, though some illegal entities have fragmented into smaller, harder-to-monitor groups operating in residential areas.","focusai_entities":"Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Bureau of Immigration (BI), Department of Justice\u2019s Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking, Winston Casio, PTV-4, Risa Hontiveros, Jessa Fernandez, Raul Villanueva","focusai_location":"Philippines, Pasay City","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"POGO Enforcement Efficacy","query":"What specific metrics will PAOCC and PAGCOR utilize to quantitatively assess the efficacy of their 'whole-of-government approach' in completely eradicating illegal offshore gaming operations by year-end, particularly given the observed fragmentation into residential areas?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Evolution","query":"How might the operational challenges faced by PAGCOR in monitoring fragmented illegal POGO operations influence the development of future regulatory frameworks or enforcement strategies for online gaming within the Philippines and potentially other jurisdictions?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[24628,154,16333],"tags":[20326],"class_list":["post-777023935","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-illegal-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023935","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=777023935"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023935\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777023943,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777023935\/revisions\/777023943"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777018832"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777023935"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777023935"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777023935"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}