PAOCC pursues fresh raps vs. Pasay POGO execs

MANILA – Prosecutors on Monday heard testimony from ten Chinese nationals against seven of their compatriots about the illegal activities in a Pasay City-based POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator) firm raided last year.

In an ambush interview, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) spokesperson Winston Romeo Casio said the testimonies are further proof of illegal forced labor and the "selling" of personnel at the Smart Web Technology Corp.

"We have identified seven of the individuals responsible who are all still in the country," Casio said.

The submitted testimonies by the ten witnesses will be evaluated by prosecutors who will determine whether the cases may be pursued.

The raid by an anti-human trafficking task force, led by the Department of Justice, last October uncovered a self-contained operation in a six-story building along Williams Street in Pasay City.

The building came complete with a nine-room KTV area, a pharmacy with a physician and two patient beds, a restaurant, and a hotpot "shabu-shabu" area.

Nine money vaults were also discovered around the premises.

Chinese workers said they were being kept against their will and showed torture marks on their bodies.

About 731 workers, including seven Filipinas, were also rescued from an aquarium-style viewing chamber of a massage parlor on the building's second floor.

The PAOCC said Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) personnel had earlier failed to examine the area after the compound's guards refused entry to the inspection team. (PNA)