On July 22, 2024, the Philippine National Police established a special task force to crack down on illegal POGO operations during industry review
The Philippine National Police (PNP) forms a task force to crack down on illegal POGO operations in response to rising closures The voice of the offshore gaming industry.
According to PhilStar, just days after PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco said regulation is better than ban, the Philippine National Police Chief Rommel Francisco Marbil announced the formation of the task force.
Marbil said at the launch ceremony of the working group: "We have established a special working group to work with other agencies to solve this problem. "The working group is called Task Force Skinner.
According to PhilStar, the task force is divided into three departments - administration, intelligence and operations - and includes members from the Philippine National Police Contributions from various departments of the bureau, such as the Operations Bureau, Anti-Cybercrime Group, Anti-Kidnapping Group, etc.
Brigadier General Nicholas Salvador said: “Through STF Skimmer, the Philippine National Police will collect intelligence, conduct coordinated law enforcement operations and take Legal action to disrupt illegal POGOs to uphold the law, protect vulnerable groups and safeguard national security.”
Illegal POGOs are under scrutiny after police recently raided two compounds in Tallac and Pampanga and found people Evidence of trafficking and other criminal activity. In Tarlac, former Bamban mayor Alice Guo was accused of secretly supporting POGO efforts to avoid detection.
At the same time, PAGCOR has been working hard to rectify the industry and renamed POGO an Internet Gaming License Holder (IGL). and requiring all existing licensees to undergo a thorough relicensing process. This has reduced the number of licensed IGLs from a peak of 298 to just 43.
