Manhunt on for 11,254 foreign POGO workers

More than 11,000 foreign workers of shuttered Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hubs are now considered illegal aliens and are being hunted for deportation by immigration authorities.

- EVELYN MACAIRAN

In a statement, Bureau of Immigration (BI) Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said he had ordered a manhunt for the 11,254 foreign POGO workers still in the country - based on records - after they failed to meet the Dec. 31, 2024 deadline for the down-grading of their visas.

He said the manhunt and deportation proceedings would cover even those found to have downgraded their visas but had not left the country.

The unaccounted for foreign workers were part of the 33,863 POGO employees registered with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.

A total of 22,609 POGO workers were able to meet the deadline and left the country, according to the BI.

“I have ordered our intelligence division to initiate the search for those at large,” Viado said.

“They are considered illegal aliens now. Expect an intensified manhunt against these illegal aliens. The order of the President is clear. No more POGO in the Philippines. Foreign nationals who continue to disobey this will be arrested, deported and blacklisted. No exceptions,” he added.

The BI chief also stressed that POGOs are obliged to surrender their foreign workers who remain in the country or face charges for harboring illegal aliens.

“As of now, these people are not yet in the custody of the Bureau of Immigration, but their information is with their companies,” BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said.

“So the first step that we will be doing is compelling and telling the companies to surrender these people to the bureau so that we can already deport them,” she added.

PAOCC estimate

In an interview with “Storycon” on One News, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) chief Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz said there may be as many as 20,000 foreign POGO workers still in the country.