Philippines enhances inter-agency cooperation in fight against POGOs

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The Backstory

What set the stage for a unified push

The Marcos administration’s move to codify new standard operating procedures for anti-POGO enforcement closes a loop that began with a shock ban and evolved into a series of incremental, capacity-building steps. President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered an immediate halt to new offshore gaming operations on July 22, 2024, as first reported by Inside Asian Gaming, in coverage of the nationwide POGO ban. The government later set Jan. 1, 2025 as the cutoff for existing operators to shut down, but months of raids and arrests showed how entrenched the industry had become — and how quickly banned outfits could splinter, rebrand and migrate online.

By December, Inside Asian Gaming noted the state still counted dozens of outfits in business, reporting in early December that 47 POGOs were operating as the shut-down deadline neared. That reality check spurred agencies to tighten coordination, embed prosecutors earlier and treat the problem as a cross-border crime challenge, not just a licensing issue. The new SOPs formalize that approach, with the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission positioned at the center and financial, corporate and social-protection arms aligned to follow the money, preserve assets and protect victims.

The shift also reflects a recognition that offshore gambling networks intersect with human trafficking, cyberfraud and money laundering. Authorities have repeatedly said the goal is not only padlocking call centers but dismantling the networks that sustain them — and denying banned operators the financial rails and corporate fronts that let them reappear under new names.

Enforcement escalates from raids to case building

The inter-agency framework builds on a year of visible operations. The PAOCC signaled in midyear that it intended to chase illegal operators to the finish line, saying it aimed to eliminate illegal POGOs by the end of the year. Officials acknowledged the challenge, estimating more than 100 illicit gambling setups hidden in apartments, condos and hotel rooms and warning that high earnings kept syndicates in play. Raids recovered victims from Indonesia, China and Malaysia and fed related investigations into money laundering.

At the same time, agencies moved to retool how cases are built. The cybercrime apparatus was pulled into the front line as the networks shifted to encrypted apps, cross-border hosting and global payment routes. The PAOCC signed an agreement with the Cybercrime Investigation and Coordinating Center to lead digital forensics, block illegal sites and develop prosecutable cases. The aim: fewer whack-a-mole raids, more durable prosecutions and asset preservation that hits syndicates where it hurts.

Those partnerships also extended to civil society, with authorities tapping outside groups for tip lines and verification of illegal platforms and promoters. The message was that the government would combine on-the-ground police work with a data-driven dragnet — and that the crackdown would be sustained beyond headline-grabbing raids.

Criminal networks test the ban’s limits

After the Jan. 1 deadline, casework suggested some outfits were betting on lax enforcement or jurisdictional gaps. Immigration agents and police kept logging arrests tied to offshore gambling, including a Bureau of Immigration operation in October that netted seven South Koreans inside the Clark Freeport Zone for allegedly running an online sports betting ring. The Clark corridor, once a POGO hub, has been a focal point for raids as authorities work to separate legitimate remote gaming under the domestic PIGO regime from foreign-facing operations now banned.

The government’s stance hardened in public warnings. Immigration officials emphasized that foreign nationals connected to offshore gambling faced arrest and deportation, underscoring the state’s willingness to wield immigration law alongside criminal statutes. The new SOPs now wrap those tools into a single playbook that threads investigations from tip to takedown to trial, adding early prosecutorial involvement and financial-intel tracing to reduce case attrition.

Still, the persistence of small, decentralized setups — often disguising themselves as generic online businesses — has underscored why a harmonized, intelligence-led posture was needed. Authorities say embedding prosecutors in case buildup and coordinating with anti-money-laundering monitors can help convert raids into convictions while rescuing victims who were trafficked into scam hubs.

From national ban to regional playbook

Lawmakers have pressed to lock in the ban and widen its reach. Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros revived a proposal for an Anti-POGO Act to harden prohibitions and deter POGO-like operations that might reemerge under new guises. Her push pairs domestic consolidation with a call for regional coordination through ASEAN and cooperation with Western governments, citing the transnational nature of the scams and the need to treat trafficked workers as victims rather than offenders.

That framing mirrors the government’s diplomatic and law enforcement posture since last year’s ban. Officials have argued that offshore gambling cannot be quarantined within one jurisdiction’s borders when its financial flows, tech infrastructure and recruitment pipelines run across several. The SOPs’ emphasis on corporate and financial forensics, as well as witness protection for trafficking survivors, reflects those cross-border realities.

The state has also tried to draw a bright line between prohibited offshore operators and legally sanctioned domestic remote gaming — sometimes called PIGO — in a bid to keep lawful activity onshore while squeezing illicit, foreign-facing rings. The separation has been operationally messy, particularly in former POGO enclaves like Clark, but the new coordination aims to clarify roles and close gaps exploited by illegal outfits.

Why stakes are rising for agencies and the economy

For the administration, the crackdown is tied to public safety, financial integrity and foreign relations. Offshore gambling sites have been linked by authorities to cyberfraud, money laundering and trafficking rings that risk drawing international scrutiny of the Philippines’ controls. Continued operations after the deadline, spotlighted in year-end counts by Inside Asian Gaming, put pressure on the state to show measurable results beyond arrests — namely, convictions, asset seizures and a visible drop in scam activity.

The SOPs aim to turn that pressure into coordinated action by standardizing how intelligence is gathered, evidence is handled and assets are preserved. They also assign clear lanes: PAOCC as coordinator, the Department of Justice embedding prosecutors, and financial regulators tracking the proceeds of crime. Social services shoulder a parallel track to house and support victims, including access to witness protection programs, to strengthen cases and reduce harm.

The administration’s earlier moves — from the July 2024 ban reported by Inside Asian Gaming to the post-deadline sweeps and cybercrime partnerships — show a pattern: quick prohibition first, then an evolving enforcement architecture. Today’s framework is the clearest signal yet that the government wants to outlast the business models it is targeting, not just scatter them. Whether that delivers a measurable decline in offshore gambling-linked crime will be the next test for agencies now bound to work in lockstep.