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Philippine Quadcom POGO investigation results in three bills targeting operations, assets and documentation

The Philippine House Quad Committee, set up to in part investigate Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), has filed three bills aiming to criminalize and penalize activities linked to POGO operations.

The Quadcom panel filed a total of five new bills, with three pertaining to POGOs or linked operations.

These include House Bill No. 10987, which prohibits all forms of offshore gaming operations in the country, with ‘severe penalties’. The bill was initially approved in November, with rampant support.

But the Quadcom’s efforts go beyond just eliminating the POGOs themselves, as they aim to go after bad actors and their assets.

House Bill No. 11043 allows for the civil forfeiture of unlawfully acquired real estate properties by foreign nationals.

This goes in line with House Bill No. 11117, allowing the administrative cancellation of birth certifications fraudulently obtained by foreign nationals.

The two bills appear to reference the recent cases involving high profile figures such as former Bamban ‘POGO Mayor’ Alice Guo, who is accused of illegally obtaining a Filipino birth certificate.

Authorities are also trying to go after assets purchased by illicit POGO operations, especially after POGO complexes have shifted more underground, sometimes in gated communities.

But a fourth bill appears to target claims that Alice Guo had potentially been a spy, with House Bill No. 10998 ‘punishing conspiracy and proposal to commit espionage,’ according to the Philippine News Agency.

While the espionage claims against Guo have not been confirmed, the strong media coverage she has seen likely had an impact on the furthering of the legislation.

According to the Quadcom lead chair, Robert Ace Barbers, the bills aim to close “flaws, loopholes, and weaknesses” of currently legislation.

Barbers specifically mentioned the POGO firm Empire 999, a real estate firm linked to POGO operations, money laundering and organized crime, noting “we discovered that POGOs use Filipino and Chinese dummies as nominal owners”.

Given the discoveries over the Quadcom’s investigation, it’s likely that further legislative changes will be examined.

Kelsey Wilhelm
Kelsey Wilhelmhttps://agbrief.com
Kelsey Wilhelm is a broadcast, print journalist and editor based in Asia for over 15 years. Focused on content creation, management, cross-cultural exchange and interviews for multi-lingual productions. Writing focus on gaming, business, politics, culture and heritage, events and celebrities, subcultures, music, film, art and fashion. Some of Kelsey's specialties are: editing, writing, copy creation, multi-lingual content production, cross-cultural exchange, content creation and management for Asian markets.

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