Ben Madilynn
Did not the good Lapu-Lapu City Mayor Junard “Ahong” Chan say before that there were no Pogo (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator) operations in the island city after authorities uncovered illegal offshore gaming in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac, Pampanga?
Of course, it is understandable that the city mayor, while he has administrative supervision over the police, has no investigative capability to know any illegal activities in his city until he is informed by his policemen, or his trusted men.
The business permit applications that he approves and signs are presumed to be regular and aboveboard as these pass through the normal process and inspection by the City’s Business Permit Inspection Board and recommended for approval.
Mayor Chan on Monday, Sept. 2, 2024, personally served, together with his personnel, the cease and desist order (CDO) shutting down the operations of Tourist Garden Hotel located in Barangay Agus.
The city mayor’s CDO came after the composite team of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, the National Bureau of Investigation, the Inter-Agency Council against Trafficking, the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Social Welfare and Development raided the hotel on Aug. 31 that resulted in the arrest of 162 foreign nationals involved in Pogo operations.
Apprehended during that raid by the composite team were Chinese nationals, Indonesians and some from Myanmar. In a statement to the press, Mayor Chan said, “Mao ni atong cease and desist order on the basis nga nagpahigayon sila ug online scam using their establishment nga gilukatan nila ug permit nato, unya dunay mga illegal activities nga ilang gipahigayon,”
The CDO also covered the Nanyang Zhongjing Tobacco Corp., Hwa Yan Realties, Inc., Royal Suwu KTV Corp. and Asean Gufeng International Trade Corp., which are tenants of the hotel.
Chan reiterated, in an interview with radio dySS, that the City was not aware of any Pogo operations in the city since he had not issued permits for these activities. Naturally, being illegal operations the operators would not apply for a permit. But would the police or the mayor’s trusted men have known of these Pogo operations?
The raid that the composite team conducted was supposed to rescue a group of Indonesians believed to be illegally detained in a hotel in Barangay Agus upon the request of the Indonesian government that surprisingly uncovered the Pogo hub. This was the first illegal Pogo hub in the Visayas that was discovered after President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered a nationwide ban on offshore gaming operations.
NBI 7 Director Renan Oliva revealed that their office received the information from two Indonesians who escaped from the Pogo operations that about 40-60 of their compatriots were still in the hotel.
The composite team found 162 nationals from Indonesia, China, Malaysia, Taiwan and Myanmar said to be operating a scam farm. Of the 162 aliens, 83 are Chinese, 70 Indonesians, six from Myanmar, one Malaysian and two Taiwanese. They occupied three multi-story buildings.
After the raid at the Tourist Garden Hotel, Mayor Chan is now telling us that there are other places in the city’s 30 barangays where illegal offshore gaming is operating. He now directed the police to identify these establishments.
But, isn’t the city mayor telegraphing the message to Pogo operators when he revealed that he directed the City’s Business Inspection Board, composed of the Bureau of Fire Protection, City Treasurer, Office of the Building Official, City Engineering, Zoning and City Health, to randomly inspect businesses and establishments?
