MANILA – The Department of Justice (DOJ) said evidence are not enough to link former president Rodrigo Duterte to the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country.
According to Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty, their investigation did not show that the former Chief Executive had a hand in POGOs during his administration.
“Clearly, when it comes to POGOs, we tackled illegal POGOs at the level of each illegal enterprise,” Ty said.
“At the level of individual POGOs, we haven’t seen yet any evidence to connect former President Duterte,” he added.
There was a previous attempt to link Duterte to illegal POGO operations due to his close ties with Michael Yang, who served as the presidential adviser under the Duterte administration.
“Presently, the association is not enough to connect him… and to bring up an investigation,” Ty said. “I think what came out in the Senate investigations, down to the matrix, that’s intelligence.”
“For there to be an investigation, that has to be beyond intelligence,” he added.
President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has earlier called for a total ban of POGOs after several such businesses were implicated in crimes, including human trafficking, serious illegal detention, and money scams.
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation expressed optimism that they are on track for “zero” POGOs in the country by the end of the year./PN
