Recently, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) of the Philippines, in collaboration with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), raided an office building in Calamba, Laguna Province, and arrested three Chinese citizens, accusing them of engaging in illegal gambling and unauthorized telecommunications operations.
However, several employees of the company subsequently posted on social media, denying the company's involvement with POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators), questioning the legitimacy of the law enforcement action, and stating that employee rights were severely affected.
According to an announcement by the Bureau of Immigration, on February 14, law enforcement officers conducted a surprise inspection of the company after receiving a report, finding two Chinese employees who entered the country on tourist visas but were working in the company, and another suspect who held a work visa from a company in Makati.
Furthermore, law enforcement officers suspect that the company is not only operating illegally but may also be involved in deeper national security issues, hence they decided to conduct further investigations.
Some local media reported that the building has long seen a large influx of Chinese nationals, thus it was suspected to be a POGO center. During the raid, law enforcement found equipment suspected of "illegal telecommunications operations," further deepening external doubts about the company.
Facing the raid and media reports, the company's employees spoke out on social media, refuting the POGO allegations and expressing dissatisfaction with the actions of law enforcement officers.
They stated that the company is a legitimately operating telecommunications enterprise with a complete business license and is not involved in any gambling operations.
An employee stated on social media: "We are a legal telecommunications company, not a POGO! The raid by law enforcement has caused us to suffer unjust accusations, and many colleagues lost their mobile phones, laptops, and cash during the operation. We call on the government to conduct a fair investigation to ensure that the truth comes out."
Another employee directly pointed out the bias in the law enforcement action: "It seems that as soon as a company employs Chinese staff, it is slandered as a POGO. All our company's operations belong to the legal telecommunications industry, yet reports claim we are an illegal gambling center. Even more exaggerated is that after the media discovered the company was not a POGO, they began accusing our base station equipment of being used to steal confidential information, which is completely baseless speculation."
This incident has sparked widespread public discussion about the fairness of law enforcement. The company's employees stated that the law enforcement action has caused them great psychological shock and financial loss, not only disrupting company operations but also resulting in the loss of employees' personal belongings during the raid.
Currently, the Bureau of Immigration of the Philippines has not yet responded to the employees' accusations, while PAOCC stated that the investigation is still ongoing, and if any improper conduct is found during the law enforcement process, it will be dealt with according to law. The incident continues to ferment, and the final investigation results are still awaited.
