House believes drug syndicates use POGOS for money laundering

The House of Representatives believes that drug syndicates in the country use illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) to launder dirty money, as proven by a series of investigations among several committees.

- DELON PORCALLA

“It seems that the drug lords launder their money through POGOs. There could be a direct link between POGOs and drug syndicates,” Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chairman of the House committee on dangerous drugs, told reporters at a news briefing in Pampanga.

“Why did I say that? Because there are registered corporations whose incorporators are the same incorporators of the owner of the warehouse where P3.6 billion worth of drugs were seized in 2023,” he pointed out.

According to Barbers, this simply means that Empire 99 that owns the prohibited drugs in Mexico, Pampanga have similar “associates” with those in POGOs, where they have the “same set of incorporators.”