{"id":777027499,"date":"2025-06-09T02:35:50","date_gmt":"2025-06-09T05:35:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777027499"},"modified":"2026-04-21T22:07:37","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T01:07:37","slug":"3-bi-officers-under-probe-for-allegedly-helping-former-offshore-gaming-workers-evade-checks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/3-bi-officers-under-probe-for-allegedly-helping-former-offshore-gaming-workers-evade-checks","title":{"rendered":"3 BI officers probed for allegedly helping former offshore gaming workers evade checks"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Four Chinese nationals attempted to evade an inspection at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- Three Bureau of Immigration (BI) <\/strong>officers have been removed from their positions and are under investigation for allegedly helping four Chinese nationals avoid immigration checks at Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal 1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Four people, identified as Zhang Zhaoya<\/strong>, Wang Linmei<\/strong>, Qi Xiangyang<\/strong>, and Chen Wenda<\/strong>, were intercepted by officers of the Bureau’s Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section (I-PROBES) as they tried to board separate flights to China and Vietnam.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

BI commissioner Joel Anthony Viado<\/strong> said: “Any personnel found to have assisted in the circumvention of immigration procedures will be dealt with to the fullest extent of the law.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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According to Viado, Zhang has been overstaying his visa since July 2024. Wang and Qi had been overstaying since September 2024. Chen has a valid work visa but was found without the Emigration Clearance Certificate (ECC) necessary for long-term residents to leave the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Viado said: “This interception reflects the Bureau\u2019s firm resolve to prevent foreign nationals who violate our immigration laws from escaping accountability. We are implementing redundancy checks, utilizing CCTV monitoring systems, and strengthening coordination among our units to prevent these attempts.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

89 deported from the Philippines for alleged links to offshore gambling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Last week, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC)\u00a0reported that \u00a077 Vietnamese citizens and 12 South Koreans have been deported for alleged links to illegal offshore gaming operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gilbert Cruz<\/strong>, PAOCC executive director, said those deported were arrested in a series of raids and that 51 more foreign nationals would be deported in the coming days following the issuance of implementation orders from the Bureau of Immigration (BI) and clearances from the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI). A delegation led by Cruz travelled to Vietnam and met with colonel\u00a0Le Khac Son<\/strong>, the deputy director of Vietnam\u2019s Criminal Police Department, to enhance cooperative efforts.<\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
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\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Philippine Bureau of Immigration bans layovers in deportations of offshore gaming workers<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Four Chinese nationals attempted to evade an inspection at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA) Terminal.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":0,"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 Philippines' Bureau of Immigration is investigating three officers for allegedly assisting four Chinese nationals in evading immigration checks at NAIA, with some individuals having overstayed visas or lacking necessary exit documents. Concurrently, 89 foreign nationals linked to illegal offshore gaming operators (POGOs) have been deported, with more expected, as the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission enhances cooperation with Vietnamese authorities to combat these illicit activities.","focusai_entities":"Bureau of Immigration, BI, Ninoy Aquino International Airport, NAIA, Immigration Protection and Border Enforcement Section, I-PROBES, Joel Anthony Viado, Zhang Zhaoya, Wang Linmei, Qi Xiangyang, Chen Wenda, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, PAOCC, Gilbert Cruz, National Bureau of Investigation, NBI, Le Khac Son, Vietnam\u2019s Criminal Police Department","focusai_location":"Philippines, China, Vietnam, South Korea","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.95), operator_casino (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.75), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"POGO Enforcement Impact?","query":"What are the projected long-term impacts of these intensified regulatory enforcement actions and inter-agency cooperations on the legitimate iGaming market and the overall POGO sector in the Philippines?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Gaps?","query":"How might these incidents of immigration circumvention and illegal offshore gaming operations prompt a re-evaluation or strengthening of existing regulatory compliance and governance frameworks for both B2B and B2C licensing in the Philippines?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[29,23911,20326],"class_list":["post-777027499","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-casino","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-illegal-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027499","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=777027499"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027499\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777027541,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777027499\/revisions\/777027541"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777027499"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777027499"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777027499"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}