NBI charges 13 Pagcor ‘enablers’ of Pogo scams
The National Bureau of Investigation on Wednesday filed human trafficking complaints against 13 personnel of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) for allegedly enabling workers of the raided Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub in Bamban, Tarlac, to conduct scamming activities.
NBI spokesperson Ferdinand Lavin told reporters the bureau’s task force found out that Pagcor employees, who were supposed to monitor the day-to-day operations of Zun Yuan Technology at the time, did nothing to halt the illegal activities.
“They allowed it, and at some point, even encouraged the scamming operations,” Lavin said in a chance interview after filing the qualified human trafficking complaint in the Department of Justice.
The 13 Pagcor officers named in the complaint were Aloysius Vincent Bacay, Ralph Bañaga, Bernard Bernardo, Aprilito Corpus, Jalvin Feliciano, Noel Laygo, Mark Christian Lobos, Roldan Palma, Marvin Panganiban, Ronnie Sadang, Anthony Taylo, Randy Pasion and Mac Jherwen Austria.
Pasion and Austria were identified as Pagcor “bingo monitoring staff,” while the 11 others were “compliance monitoring agents.”
“Remember, at that time, the Pogos were registered and allowed by Pagcor. Pagcor had representatives there. They turned a blind eye to the scamming activities. In fact, they allowed them,” Lavin said.
Deceived
He explained that the respondents were implicated in qualified human trafficking because Pogo employees were “forced” to engage in the scamming activities.
“They were deceived into believing that what they were doing were legitimate Pogo operations, when in fact, it was already [illegal]. And the purpose of this was to exploit them,” the NBI official said.
He added that the bureau had communicated with the Civil Service Commission regarding the administrative violations committed by the Pagcor employees, including gross misconduct, serious dishonesty and conduct prejudicial to public interest.
Asked to comment, Pagcor assistant vice president for external communications Jun Alano told the Inquirer that “we will respect due process.”
The Pogo hub was raided in March last year based on search warrants issued by courts over its alleged involvement in scamming activities, human trafficking and serious illegal detention of Pogo workers.
Separately, the NBI also filed a complaint against dismissed Bamban, Tarlac, Mayor Alice Guo in connection with her acquisition of several estate properties in Pangasinan.
Another case vs. Guo
It specifically recommended Guo’s prosecution for three counts of falsification of public documents, as defined and penalized under Article 172 (1) in relation to Article 171 (4) of the Revised Penal Code, as amended.
“In the acquisition of these properties, Alice Guo said she is Alice Guo and that she is a Filipino citizen when, in fact, we were able to establish that she is not Alice Guo,” Lavin said, explaining that Guo was actually a Chinese citizen named Guo Hua Ping.
Lavin did not provide an estimate of the value of the properties but said that these were used for Pogo operations. The three properties identified in the complaint will be the subject of forfeiture proceedings, he added.
Baofu, a real estate company owned by Guo, leased land to the Pogo hub initially called Hongsheng Gaming Technology, before it was renamed Zun Yuan Technology.
Guo, along with her parents and siblings, also face several counts of money laundering for the operations of businesses owned by her family, which funded the purchase of parcels of land that later became the site for the Pogo hub.
