A top Philippine Senate panel is set to conclude its investigation into alleged criminal activities linked to Philippine offshore gaming operators, holding its last hearing on November 26th.
According to the Philippine News Agency, the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality has already held 15 hearings over the course of 19 months – starting on April 19th of 2023.
The final hearing is set to focus on new information regarding alleged spying activities by the Chinese government.
That’s according to Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros, who claims “we have gathered new information, especially on China having spies here in the Philippines through POGOs”.
The politician furthered that “in the next hearing, we will present the legislative reforms that need to be pushed here in the Senate due to a lot of irregularities and policy gaps that we have seen in the spread of POGO and its related crimes”.
Former Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo – known as the ‘POGO mayor’ – will be required to attend the hearing, indicated Hontiveros.
The senator has been a strong proponent of further legislation to prohibit any possible iterations of POGOs in the future, despite assurances from Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. that his recent Executive Order 74 was sufficient to ensure their elimination.
A legal expert recently told AGB that the Executive Order was quite “explicit in its scope”, stating that “the EO clearly states that all POGO and IGL operations are banned”, noting this is regardless of their location or licensing authority.
The Philippine president mandated the closure of all POGO and IGL operations in the nation during his State of the Nation Address earlier this year. The companies have been given until December 31st to shutter all operations.