{"id":777024355,"date":"2025-03-21T10:08:30","date_gmt":"2025-03-21T13:08:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777024355"},"modified":"2026-04-22T00:35:28","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T03:35:28","slug":"philippine-authorities-raid-alleged-illegal-gambling-operation-in-makati-city","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-authorities-raid-alleged-illegal-gambling-operation-in-makati-city","title":{"rendered":"Philippine authorities raid alleged illegal gambling operation in Makati City"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Some 131 people were arrested in the raid.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), the Department of Justice Office of Cybercrime (DOJ-OOC) and the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) have raided an alleged offshore gaming operation&nbsp;in Makati City. They arrested 96 foreigners (58 Chinese, eight Japanese, 12 Taiwanese, two Vietnamese, one Mongolian, one St. Kitts &amp; Nevis National, one Brazilian, and 13 Malaysians) and 35 Filipinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>PNP-CIDG chief Nicolas Torre III said officials received information about an alleged online gaming operation at the Flying Future Services Office on the 21st floor of Yuchengco Tower 1, RCBC Plaza. Authorities seized electronic devices and documents.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Filipinos arrested await complaints for violating the National Prosecution Service with violations of Republic Act (RA) 9208 (Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act), PD 1602 (Illegal Gambling), and RA 10175 (Cybercrime Prevention Act). They are temporarily detained at CIDG Southern District Field Unit. The foreign nationals are in the custody of PAOCC.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Among those arrested, Torre identified three Chinese suspects: &#8220;Guge,&#8221; the boss of Intech World Company; &#8220;Layson,&#8221; the boss of Omniach Company; and &#8220;Younger&#8221;, the boss of Urban Ideas, all sub-companies of Flying Future Services.<\/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=\"Foreign nationals arrested in a POGO at RCBC Plaza, Makati\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/8YGqxrcDWqg?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: Rappler.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Philippine Bureau of Immigration calls for cooperation against human trafficking<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The Bureau of Immigration (BI)\u00a0has issued a statement calling for cooperation to tackle the number of Filipino trafficking victims\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/filipinos-leaving-to-work-for-scam-operators-bureau-of-immigration-warns\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">departing the country<\/a>\u00a0illegally to work in scam operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The statement reads: \u201cThe BI has been actively strengthening border security measures, but the agency stresses the need for greater coordination with local authorities to prevent illegal departures through other routes.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>BI commissioner\u00a0Joel Anthony Viado\u00a0said three victims of human trafficking, two women and one man, returned to the country on March 16 from Phnom Penh, Cambodia. They flew back on a Philippine Airlines flight after being forced to work as love scammers. The victims sought help from the Philippine embassy after facing physical abuse and torture for more than two months. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is investigating their recruiters.<\/p>\n\n\n<div id=\"see-also-container\">\n\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label\">See also:<\/span><\/p>\n<div class=\"related-article\">\n\t\t\t\t<img decoding=\"async\" class=\"related-article__thumbnail\" src=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/5\/2022\/09\/India-Delhi-police-involved-in-illegal-cricket-betting-operation-300x200.jpg\"><\/p>\n<p class=\"related-article__text\">\n\t\t\t\t\t<span class=\"see-also-label-strong\">See also:<\/span> <a href='https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-authorities-raid-scam-operation-in-pasay-city'>Philippine authorities raid scam operation in Pasay City<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some 131 people were arrested in the raid.<\/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":"Philippine authorities, including PAOCC, DOJ-OOC, and PNP-CIDG, raided an alleged offshore gaming operation in Makati City, arresting 131 individuals for illegal gambling, anti-trafficking, and cybercrime violations. Concurrently, the Bureau of Immigration called for enhanced cooperation against human trafficking, specifically targeting Filipinos exploited in scam operations abroad, underscoring the broader regulatory and social challenges associated with illicit online activities in the region.","focusai_entities":"Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), Department of Justice Office of Cybercrime (DOJ-OOC), Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG), Flying Future Services Office, Yuchengco Tower 1, RCBC Plaza, Intech World Company, Omniach Company, Urban Ideas, Bureau of Immigration (BI), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Philippine Airlines, Nicolas Torre III, Joel Anthony Viado, Guge, Layson, Younger","focusai_location":"Philippines, Makati City, Cambodia, Phnom Penh","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":"POGO Regulatory Impact","query":"What are the potential long-term implications of these intensified enforcement actions on the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) licensing framework and the broader iGaming investment climate in the region?"},{"label":"AML & Trafficking Nexus","query":"How do these arrests for illegal gambling and human trafficking highlight the critical need for enhanced AML protocols and cross-agency collaboration to combat illicit financial flows within the online gaming ecosystem?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[24628,439,158,16333],"tags":[20326],"class_list":["post-777024355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-highlight-of-the-week","category-legal-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-illegal-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777024355","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=777024355"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777024355\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777024385,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777024355\/revisions\/777024385"}],"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=777024355"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777024355"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777024355"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}