Gov’t agents round up 2,724 during Las Piñas POGO raid

PHILIPPINE authorities have detained more than 2,700 people during a raid on several buildings in Manila where alleged human trafficking victims were paid to recruit players for online games, police said Tuesday.

A state-run wire service said those apprehended were found working for an illegal Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) in Las Piñas City. Chinese, Indonesian, Vietnamese, Singaporean, Malaysian, Pakistani, Cameroonian, Sudanese, Myanmar and Philippine nationals were among the people found inside a compound in the capital on Monday night.

Authorities were interviewing 2,724 detainees to identify who was a victim or suspect, said police Capt. Michelle Sabino, spokeswoman for the anti-cybercrime unit.

More than 1,500 were Filipinos. International concern has been growing over internet scams in the Asia-Pacific region, often staffed by trafficking victims tricked or coerced into promoting bogus crypto investments.

Sabino said the alleged trafficking victims had accepted jobs posted on Facebook to work in the Philippines “to find players” for online games.

Many of them were forced to work 12hour shifts every day for as little as P24,000 pesos a month, and were prevented from leaving the compound, she said.

Sabino described it as the “biggest ever” anti-trafficking raid in the Philippines.

AFP journalists at the scene on Tuesday saw two police buses and two police trucks parked outside the compound. They were not allowed to enter the buildings.

Sabino said “everything will be investigated”, including whether the workers were involved in online rackets.

In May, authorities rescued more than a thousand people from several Asian nations who had been trafficked into the Philippines, held captive and forced to run online scams.

The International Organization for Migration (IOM) said victims were often ensnared by traffickers with the prospect of “better jobs with high salaries and enticing perks”. AFP

CENTENARIAN’S

WINDFALL.

Potenciana Restua who turns 100 on Tuesday (June 27) receives a P100,000-check from Manila Mayor Honey Lacuna-Pangan (right) as a gift for having a “productive and meaningful life” as a resident of the big city.

K. R. De Asis/MPIO