The biggest POGO hub in the Philippines has been shut down.
According tio local media reports, the 33-hectare facility in Cavite – which housed around 30,000 employees – was formally closed on Tuesday at a ceremony attended by Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) Executive Director Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz, PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco and Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Rommel Francisco Marbil.
Philippines News Agency said the property was sold by the Remulla family to a real estate developer in 2017 and began operating as a POGO hub in 2019. Actual operations are said to have ceased on 30 November.
“As promised, we visited the area by December to see that everything is closed,” said Remulla. “We will follow the President’s directive that all POGOs must be closed. Per the local government unit administrator, they inspected the facility on the last week of November and there are no more operations here.”
Remulla also revealed that power had been cut to the facility, home to 57 buildings including employee dormitories, gaming hubs, cafés, groceries, clinic, restaurants, spas and beauty salons.
However, other illegal POGO hubs remain operational as the 31 December deadline for full closure nears.
“There are a lot of red flags,” said Cruz. “There are a lot of indicators pointing to areas that still have POGO operations. We have coordinated with LGUs (local government units) and we are working with the PNP to find them.”
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