A look inside the raided POGO hubs in Bamban, Tarlac and Pasay

Manila Bulletin

The Philippine Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), in collaboration with the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC), raided one of the large POGO hubs in Bamban, Tarlac and in Pasay. Here is a look at what's inside the compound.  RELATED ARTICLE: https://mb.com.ph/2024/7/6/paocc-mulls-gradual-pogo-phaseout  Subscribe to the Manila Bulletin Online channel! - https://www.youtube.com/TheManilaBulletin  Visit our website at http://mb.com.ph Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/manilabulletin  Twitter: https://www.twitter.com/manila_bulletin Instagram: https://instagram.com/manilabulletin Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@manilabulletin  #ManilaBulletinOnline #ManilaBulletin #LatestNews

Transcript

00:00What we're witnessing here is basically a prime example of a scam compound as they exist

00:15in many parts of the Philippines, but also in many other parts of Southeast Asia.

00:24When this compound here was raided, there were about six, seven hundred people arrested

00:29who were working in here.

00:30Now, that's not a huge number compared to some other compounds that we know about, but

00:34it still tells you something about what's been going on here.

00:40So this was the torture room.

00:45As you can see, there's still some dry blood all over the walls.

00:52And the handcuffs, these are all original to the building.

00:58So if you're unable to meet your quota at any given time, or if you had an infraction,

01:04a very serious infraction, they'd tie you here and torture you.

01:13So look at this one, according to some of our witnesses, someone was thrown towards

01:20this wall and broke this particular wall.

01:24Look at how huge the entire place is.

01:30In this particular building, one, two, three, this is the biggest.

01:36So this is the entertainment center.

01:41So smaller rooms.

01:52The biggest room would be that way.

01:57So this is a huge space.

01:59This is three times bigger than the ordinary size of a condominium unit here in Metro Manila.

02:09This used to be the prostitution den, sex trafficking den.

02:14So this room used to be the aquarium, and that room is where they used to have the sex

02:23services.

02:24What does the aquarium mean?

02:27Aquarium means you've got a, just like an aquarium, you've got fish, right?

02:31But instead of fish, you've got women to choose from.

02:34They have the financial capability to corrupt anybody.

02:40They can corrupt just about anybody in public office, right?

02:44So the amount of money they have is their potent tool against law enforcement.

02:52But that doesn't mean that there are no law enforcers out there who are willing to operate

02:56against them.

02:57A good number are willing to operate against them.

03:00We need to address this problem as a region.

03:03We need to put our heads together because Myanmar can't do it alone, Thailand can't

03:08do it alone, the Philippines for sure can't do it alone.

03:11We have to come to a table, we have to talk, because the problem is regional.

03:16So the solution has to be regional as well.

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