A Philippine court recently officially ruled that assets worth 189 million pesos involved in an illegal online gambling operation center (POGO) located in Mabalacat City, Pampanga Province, previously sealed, are to be confiscated to the state. This ruling was made after the government won the judicial process against the involved foreign operators, marking another significant progress in the crackdown on gambling-related assets.
This park was raided by the police in 2023, and investigations revealed that it ostensibly served as an eight-hectare high-end residential community, but internally it concealed fraudulent and human trafficking activities. The park was luxuriously equipped, including a grocery store, warehouse, Olympic-standard swimming pool, underground wine cellar, and even a secret passage leading directly to the villas.
On the day of the raid, some park employees attempted to flee, causing chaos at the scene. Law enforcement officers found a large number of computer devices neatly arranged on long white tables inside, indicating that the park had been engaged in online fraud and illegal gambling activities for a long time.
Currently, the park has been cut off from water and electricity, and the site is in disarray, with the office area littered with rotten food, personal belongings, and trash. According to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), the park, named "Baofu Community," is one of the eight large POGO parks nationwide that have been sealed since 2022, with other similar facilities either abandoned or under judicial conservatorship.
Deputy Minister of Justice Nicholas Felix Ty pointed out that the court's decision to confiscate the assets was based on the Anti-Human Trafficking Law, which clearly stipulates that properties obtained from or used for crimes can be legally confiscated.
PAOCC Executive Director Gilbert Cruz added that the government is considering how to make reasonable use of these seized properties. "These parks could be transformed into training centers, schools, or social welfare institutions; if officially listed as national assets, they could also be legally sold, with the proceeds used for the compensation and reconstruction of victims."
It is also understood that another POGO center in Porac, Pampanga Province, is currently under judicial conservatorship, awaiting further court rulings on whether to confiscate its related assets.
