Chinesse being deported from Philippines

[Allovertheworld 355]

"Chinese nationals who were rounded up after being caught in the act of engaging in illegal online gaming and cybercrime activities"

 

BI says they deported the majority of them for this activity.

What is "Illegal Online gaming"?  

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

3 hours ago, Allovertheworld said:

"Chinese nationals who were rounded up after being caught in the act of engaging in illegal online gaming and cybercrime activities"

 

BI says they deported the majority of them for this activity.

What is "Illegal Online gaming"?  

They are probably talking about POGO operations operating without a PAGCOR license.  Quote:

 

Any POGOs that are operating without a PAGCOR-issued license are considered illegal, and their workers, as well. As of June 9, 2019, there are 56 licensed POGOs in the country that employ an estimated 100,000 to 250,000 Chinese nationals. Yet the number of illegal POGOs is estimated to be at around 30.Jul 19, 2019

 

https://www.esquiremag.ph/money/industry/philippine-offshore-gaming-operators-what-you-need-to-know-a1926-20190719-lfrm

 

[Allovertheworld 355]

2 hours ago, seekingthetruth said:

They are probably talking about POGO operations operating without a PAGCOR license.  Quote:

 

Any POGOs that are operating without a PAGCOR-issued license are considered illegal, and their workers, as well. As of June 9, 2019, there are 56 licensed POGOs in the country that employ an estimated 100,000 to 250,000 Chinese nationals. Yet the number of illegal POGOs is estimated to be at around 30.Jul 19, 2019

 

https://www.esquiremag.ph/money/industry/philippine-offshore-gaming-operators-what-you-need-to-know-a1926-20190719-lfrm

 

That was eye opening,  Thanks

 

The funny part is the industry is legal to operate in the Philippines but illegal for Philippines citizens to play it.  

[flicks1998 1,044]

Theyve been raiding these company since around 2014 or so.  In 2016, one of the offices a few floors up from us was raided by the NBI and about 50 Chinese were arrested.  The Chinese and POGOs have been one of the main reasons there has not been a drop in real estate prices, and they are not just located in Manila.  These POGOs are everywhere.  Pre-COVID, it was hard to not find a condo building not overrun by Chinese. 

 

In early 2020, BI made a change to the immigration laws that said Chinese were no longer required to get a visa on arrival (which they could extend for 6 months).  They were now granted a 30 day stay that was non-extendable and they had to leave the country after 30 days.  This was just before the pandemic started so no idea how effective that decision was going to be.  Previously, the POGO "workers" would work 6 months then be replaced by another "team".

[seekingthetruth 1,246]

7 hours ago, Allovertheworld said:

That was eye opening,  Thanks

 

The funny part is the industry is legal to operate in the Philippines but illegal for Philippines citizens to play it.  

I think it is legal for Filipinos to gamble online at approved sites but the POGO operations are catering to Chinese mainland customers, and ironically, online gambling of any kind is illegal in China.  The Chinese government allows POGO to go on but could easily shut it down completely.  I am sure they use this as a weapon to keep Duterte in line.  Chinese offshore gambling also exists in Malaysia and Indonesia, but PH was the biggest.

 

However, as Flicks said, things have changed since Covid.  Visa on arrival rules changed, and also, due to Covid many of the POGOs just had to scale down or shut down.  And, the Chinese corrupted the SRRV retirement visa system, so that is shut down.  After the special visa on arrival visa was shut down, they had hundreds of Chinese 35 year old "retirees" abusing the system and getting SRRV visas.

 

I read that about 50% of the POGO workers are gone.  Here in Subic Bay Freeport, we used to have POGO workers in houses all over our neighborhood, illegally jamming too many people into standard 3-4 bedroom houses, dormitory style.  In Cubi, an entire high-rise condo building was taken over, mostly by one company.  Late 2019 / early 2020, regular residents were complaining of open prostitution and drunkenness in the area, and police finally cracked down.  It was shown at the time that some of the POGO female workers were Chinese prostitutes.  Now that building has emptied out and many of the houses in our area are vacant too.

[Cyberfx1024 7,980]

On 1/24/2021 at 7:48 PM, seekingthetruth said:

I think it is legal for Filipinos to gamble online at approved sites but the POGO operations are catering to Chinese mainland customers, and ironically, online gambling of any kind is illegal in China.  The Chinese government allows POGO to go on but could easily shut it down completely.  I am sure they use this as a weapon to keep Duterte in line.  Chinese offshore gambling also exists in Malaysia and Indonesia, but PH was the biggest.

 

However, as Flicks said, things have changed since Covid.  Visa on arrival rules changed, and also, due to Covid many of the POGOs just had to scale down or shut down.  And, the Chinese corrupted the SRRV retirement visa system, so that is shut down.  After the special visa on arrival visa was shut down, they had hundreds of Chinese 35 year old "retirees" abusing the system and getting SRRV visas.

 

I read that about 50% of the POGO workers are gone.  Here in Subic Bay Freeport, we used to have POGO workers in houses all over our neighborhood, illegally jamming too many people into standard 3-4 bedroom houses, dormitory style.  In Cubi, an entire high-rise condo building was taken over, mostly by one company.  Late 2019 / early 2020, regular residents were complaining of open prostitution and drunkenness in the area, and police finally cracked down.  It was shown at the time that some of the POGO female workers were Chinese prostitutes.  Now that building has emptied out and many of the houses in our area are vacant too.

 

A lot of this is due to the government cracking down on the POGO companies that weren't paying taxes to the tune of billions of pesos. . So the government started cracking on them and making it unfavorable for them to stay in the Philippines