The Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP) says uniforms allegedly discovered during a raid on a POGO compound in Pampanga last week and which featured insignias of the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) and the Chinese People’s Armed Police Force were most likely “used as props” according to local media reports.
However, lawmakers have expressed concern over what the uniforms could potentially represent if they were real, labelling them a possible national security threat.
As reported by the Inquirer, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) revealed the discovery after a 5.8-hectare complex run by Lucky South 99 – a former POGO whose license was recently revoked – was raided on 4 June. The compound was allegedly being used as a base for human trafficking.
At a press briefing in Quezon City this week, AFP spokesperson Francel Margareth Padilla said the agency did not want to cause unnecessary panic and that the uniforms were probably used in “deceptive activities rather than any preparation for an invasion,” according to the Inquirer’s report.
She added, “These are contemporary challenges so we are really looking at [their] implications on national security. The [AFP] will have the necessary contingency measures for all these things.”
Senator Risa Hontiveros has gone one step further, calling on the National Security Council (NSC) to recommend to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr that POGOs, or Internet Gaming Licensees as they are now known, be considered a national threat, prompting Philippine Navy spokesperson for the West Philippine Sea, Commodore Roy Vincent Trinidad, to call for calm.
“We haven’t yet reached that point. The moment we get there, there will be appropriate announcements to be made,” Trinidad said, as per the Inquirer.
“What is happening is there is an increase in the monitored unusual incidents perpetuated by the presence of Chinese nationals, without saying yet these are risks to national security.
“The moment they violate, not only the POGOs at the moment, if any establishment violates the rules and regulations of the land, there will be appropriate sanctions that the government may impose upon them.”
Hontiveros alleged earlier that the discovery of the uniforms suggested illegal POGOs were connected with “foreign intelligence assets.”
“The implications of these uniforms should send chills down our [spines],” Hontiveros told various media outlets.
“Someone is hell-bent on compromising our sovereignty. It is so clear that every POGO has exploited our economic vulnerabilities and that POGOs have now evolved into a breeding ground for crime and a national security threat.”
PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco this week released a statement in which he insisted there was no criminal threat posed by licensed IGLs, only by illegal POGOs operating without a license.
