Acting seriously on President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. (PBBM)’s directive for the closure of all Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country, interior and local government secretary Juanito Victor ‘Jonvic’ Remulla Jr. gave assurances that he will personally shut down the remaining 100 or so POGOs monitored by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC).

Prior to this, PAOCC executive director Gilbert Cruz reported that there had been a sharp decline in the number of POGOs under its monitoring as based on the data given by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCor) that many have closed shop and many are already wrapping up their operations.

Cruz expressed confidence that the government would be able to eradicate all illegal POGO remnants “even if they turn to smaller groups” because “their operations would still make them converge and the indicators would still be there to render them obvious, especially at night.”
The PAOCC head likewise disclosed that cases are now being readied and these would soon be filed against local chief executives who were involved in illegal POGO activities.

“The joint investigation of (our) lawmakers, the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) and other government agencies are yielding good results. We have already connected the dots as to who are involved in POGOs. A lot of names have surfaced,” Cruz announced.