{"id":777033287,"date":"2025-10-17T08:34:54","date_gmt":"2025-10-17T11:34:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777033287"},"modified":"2026-04-21T18:05:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T21:05:49","slug":"new-paocc-director-to-lead-anti-pogos-strategy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/new-paocc-director-to-lead-anti-pogos-strategy","title":{"rendered":"Philippine names Benjamin Acorda Jr as new PAOCC director"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Acorda is the new executive director of the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission (PAOCC).<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.<\/strong> has appointed former Philippine National Police chief Benjamin Acorda Jr.<\/strong> as executive director of the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission (PAOCC). Acorda will replace PAOCC executive director undersecretary Gilbert Cruz<\/strong>, Malaca\u00f1ang.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Created under Executive Order No. 295<\/strong> in 2000, the PAOCC’s tasks are to identify and prosecute criminal groups and protectors in government and to conduct intelligence and counterintelligence efforts. It also led actions to remove former Philippine offshore gambling operations after they were banned last year.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Acorda was PNP chief from April 2023 to March 2024. A member of the Philippine Military Academy Sambisig Class of 1991, he previously served as director of the PNP Directorate for Intelligence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Data from cybersecurity and analytics firms Gogolook and Whoscall <\/strong>suggests that illegal online gambling in The Philippines dropped by 93 per cent<\/a> from the second quarter to the third quarter of 2025. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Ban on online gambling in Mongolia confirmed<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Acorda is the new executive director of the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission (PAOCC).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":777033292,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. has appointed Benjamin Acorda Jr. as the new Executive Director of the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission (PAOCC) in the Philippines. This appointment is significant given PAOCC's mandate to combat criminal groups and its prior leadership in the removal of Philippine offshore gambling operations (POGOs) following their ban, impacting the nation's iGaming regulatory landscape.","focusai_entities":"Benjamin Acorda Jr., Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission (PAOCC), Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Gilbert Cruz, Philippine National Police (PNP), Malaca\u00f1ang, Philippine Military Academy Sambisig Class of 1991, Gogolook, Whoscall","focusai_location":"The Philippines, Mongolia","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.85), affiliate_publisher (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"POGO Enforcement Strategy?","query":"Given Acorda's background and PAOCC's mandate, what specific shifts in enforcement strategy or operational focus are anticipated regarding the eradication of illegal Philippine offshore gambling operations (POGOs)?"},{"label":"Regulatory Impact Analysis?","query":"How will this leadership change at PAOCC influence the broader regulatory compliance landscape and governance frameworks for both B2B and B2C iGaming stakeholders operating within or targeting the Philippine market?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[20326,1205,24804],"class_list":["post-777033287","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-illegal-gambling","tag-pogo","tag-the-philippines"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777033287","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\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777033287"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777033287\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777033304,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777033287\/revisions\/777033304"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777033292"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777033287"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777033287"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777033287"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}