{"id":297421,"date":"2023-11-06T11:13:53","date_gmt":"2023-11-06T17:13:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=297421"},"modified":"2023-11-06T12:41:09","modified_gmt":"2023-11-06T18:41:09","slug":"presence-of-pogo-led-sex-trafficking-in-the-philippines-puts-26-cops-out-of-work","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/presence-of-pogo-led-sex-trafficking-in-the-philippines-puts-26-cops-out-of-work\/","title":{"rendered":"POGO-Led Sex Trafficking in the Philippines Puts 26 Cops Out of Work"},"content":{"rendered":"

Just days after authorities busted a Philippine Online Gaming Operator (POGO) for sex trafficking<\/a>, Secretary of Government Benjamin Abalos Jr. said that local police were partially to blame. His comments launched an investigation that has now led to 26 officers, including the chief of the Pasay City police force, losing their jobs.<\/p>\n

\"Pasay
Pasay City police officers on duty. Twenty-six officers have lost their jobs for not doing enough to stop an illegal gambling and sex trafficking ring in the city. (Image: The Philippine Star<\/em>)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Authorities dismantled the illegal operations at the end of October, rescuing 731 people who were caught in the middle. Less than two days later, Abalos said that it would have been impossible for the activity to have been occurring without police knowledge.<\/p>\n

Along with Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos, he immediately called for the removal of the police chief, Colonel Froilan Uy. Both also sought the ouster of the commander of the local substation, Captain Criz Antonio Catalu\u00f1a. The substation is just two blocks from Pasay City Hall and the substation.<\/p>\n

One Strike Only<\/h2>\n

The building where the activity took place was in a compound belonging to two former POGOs, Xushen Technology Corp. and Freego Computer Gaming OPC. The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.<\/a> (PAGCOR) had previously revoked their licenses, but they were able to come back. They managed to avoid PAGCOR\u2019s scrutiny and received a temporary license under Smart Web Technology Corp.<\/p>\n

\n

Colonel Jean Fajardo, the Philippine National Police\u2019s<\/a> (PNP) spokesperson, said in a statement that Uy and Catalu\u00f1a now face an investigation. An inquiry will take a deep dive into how they ran their commands.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

At the same time, the other 24 officers, none of whom have been named, will be targets of the investigation. The Philippine government and the PNP want to know how they were unable to realize that criminal activity of this magnitude was taking place on every floor of a six-story building right in front of them for so long without being discovered.<\/p>\n

Fajardo added that the PNP has a \u201cone-strike policy\u201d for commanders who fail to do their jobs. The Philippines has recently begun to crack down harder on illegal gambling. With some police officers already coming under fire<\/a> for their involvement with POGOs, the government isn\u2019t going to accept any excuses from officers who show even the slightest sign of malfeasance.<\/p>\n

The Nightmare Ends<\/h2>\n

The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and the Department of Justice led last month\u2019s raid, supported by PAGCOR and other entities. Since then, more details about what was taking place have come to light.<\/p>\n

The victims were a mix of nationalities, but were mostly from China and the Philippines. They had been lured into the business with false promises of legitimate jobs, only to find out the truth after they arrived. The life they knew before was essentially over.<\/p>\n

Once inside, they couldn\u2019t leave. Some were sex workers while others worked phone lines for online scams or provided other administrative assistance.<\/p>\n

\n

Not all were females. The police rescued a number of male slaves, some of whom had been kept locked up. The investigation revealed signs of physical torture, and several of them stated that they had been the victims of kidnapping.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

The authorities also found a torture room in the building, which was allegedly used to punish customers. If someone came to visit one of the sex workers and couldn\u2019t pay or said something that the gang didn\u2019t like, they ended up in the room. There, based on the instruments the police found, they were tasered and beaten with baseball bats, clubs, and more.<\/p>\n

The Philippines is cracking down hard<\/a> on illegal gambling this year, which could be helping reveal additional operations the authorities hadn\u2019t found. The size of this latest bust is almost certainly going to lead to further arrests.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Just days after authorities busted a Philippine Online Gaming Operator (POGO) for sex trafficking, Secretary of Government Benjamin Abalos Jr. said that local police were partially to blame. His comments launched an investigation that has now led to 26 officers, including the chief of the Pasay City police force, losing their jobs. Authorities dismantled the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":64,"featured_media":297420,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,21],"tags":[81913,13766,88648],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nPOGO-Led Sex Trafficking in the Philippines Puts 26 Cops Out of Work - Casino.org<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Presence of POGO-led sex trafficking in the Philippines puts 26 cops out of work, with more to possibly follow.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/presence-of-pogo-led-sex-trafficking-in-the-philippines-puts-26-cops-out-of-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"POGO-Led Sex Trafficking in the Philippines Puts 26 Cops Out of Work - Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Presence of POGO-led sex trafficking in the Philippines puts 26 cops out of work, with more to possibly follow.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/presence-of-pogo-led-sex-trafficking-in-the-philippines-puts-26-cops-out-of-work\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2023-11-06T17:13:53+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2023-11-06T18:41:09+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Pasay-City-police-officers-on-duty.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1080\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"747\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Erik Gibbs\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Erik Gibbs\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/presence-of-pogo-led-sex-trafficking-in-the-philippines-puts-26-cops-out-of-work\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/presence-of-pogo-led-sex-trafficking-in-the-philippines-puts-26-cops-out-of-work\/\",\"name\":\"POGO-Led Sex Trafficking in the Philippines Puts 26 Cops Out of Work - Casino.org\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/presence-of-pogo-led-sex-trafficking-in-the-philippines-puts-26-cops-out-of-work\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/presence-of-pogo-led-sex-trafficking-in-the-philippines-puts-26-cops-out-of-work\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Pasay-City-police-officers-on-duty.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2023-11-06T17:13:53+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2023-11-06T18:41:09+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/21bf33e35290a1da9c572298dac6b7ca\"},\"description\":\"Presence of POGO-led sex trafficking in the Philippines puts 26 cops out of work, with more to possibly follow.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/presence-of-pogo-led-sex-trafficking-in-the-philippines-puts-26-cops-out-of-work\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/presence-of-pogo-led-sex-trafficking-in-the-philippines-puts-26-cops-out-of-work\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/presence-of-pogo-led-sex-trafficking-in-the-philippines-puts-26-cops-out-of-work\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Pasay-City-police-officers-on-duty.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Pasay-City-police-officers-on-duty.jpg\",\"width\":1080,\"height\":747,\"caption\":\"Pasay City police officers on duty. 26 officers have lost their jobs for not doing enough to stop an illegal gambling and sex trafficking ring in the city. 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His scope includes Europe, Latin America, the Caribbean and Asia. Erik has covered gaming markets in Europe and Asia for the past six years. Erik joined Casino.org in November 2021. Erik has written for numerous gambling- and a handful of industry publications has quoted casino-related media outlets over the years and. He is always excited to bring a new perspective on what's happening in the gaming space. Erik enjoys following the global gaming industry, paying particular attention to innovation and regulation. Originally from the US, Erik has spent extensive time living in various countries across the globe. He enjoys anything that has to do with the outdoors and exploration, although he readily admits that he would have no trouble spending all day fishing on a boat. He currently resides in Spain. 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