NATIONAL Bureau of Investigation Southeastern Mindanao Regional Office

• NBI XI arrests 8 foreign nationals, monitors another illegal offshore gaming

 THE NATIONAL Bureau of Investigation Southeastern Mindanao Regional Office (NBI-SEMRO) filed a case on Wednesday afternoon against eight Chinese nationals arrested in a raid of an illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) in a residential area of Buhangin, Davao City.

The operation, which took place on Aug. 12, 2025, at a residence on Gardenia Street in Montclair Highlands, targeted an illicit POGO setup. 

NBI XI director Atty Arcelito Albao stated that a homeowner’s complaint initiated the surveillance and verification process, which confirmed the presence of illegal POGO activities on the property.

“Last Monday, I received information that there were a lot of Chinese nationals in the wee hours of the evening. I immediately instructed my agents to conduct verification and surveillance, and we confirmed that they were doing illegal online operations or POGO,” Albao told reporters yesterday in a press briefing held at The Royal Mandaya Hotel.

With the voluntary cooperation of the homeowners’ association, agents were granted access to the house, where they discovered computers used for illegal activities. 

Albao stated that the arrested individuals admitted to being involved in a POGO operation during a media interview.

He also said they will subpoena those people involved, including the owner of the house.

“We conducted a series of online surveillance and online detection. We are now seeing that there are others here in Davao. We hope we can catch all of them because they are slowly dividing and going to different places. In Manila, NBI agents also catch smaller groups from time to time. Here in Davao, we verify almost every week, so if we see a group of Chinese, we do verification. This is one we caught, and hopefully, this month we are targeting one more area in Davao City,” he further said.

“Here in Davao, there aren’t that many. Since December [Panabo operation], this is the second, but we are monitoring another new one and we are conducting surveillance and online verification,” Albao said.

“After the operation on the confiscated computers and cellphones, we immediately applied for a cyber warrant so that we can examine what’s inside. But the dilemma here is that all of these laptops, computers, and cellphones use Chinese characters, so they need to be interpreted. The POGO operation transactions are not here but outside,” he said.

During the raid, the NBI apprehended eight foreign nationals—two females and six males. The suspects were brought to the NBI XI custody and will be charged under applicable Philippine laws.

Authorities seized 10 personal computers and multiple mobile phones from the site, which were used to facilitate the gambling scheme. 

The operation is part of a broader nationwide crackdown on illegal POGO activities led by NBI Director Santiago, who has ordered all regional offices to dismantle offshore gaming schemes that undermine national security.

The NBI-SEMRO is urging the public to report any suspicious activities related to illegal gambling, money laundering, and human trafficking.

According to Albao, the NBI is also monitoring a separate, newly established POGO operation in Davao City.

Challenges in cracking down on POGO

“First of all, they are now just small groups of 10 or 20, and it’s difficult to monitor them. Other residents are also afraid to report, just like this one. If they hadn’t fought on Sunday night, it wouldn’t have been reported to us, even though the residents already knew they were Chinese. We got the lease contract, and it was from April, so we need help from our countrymen, for example, from people in subdivisions or commercial establishments. We need help to catch all of them and have them deported to China,” he further said.

Moreover, Albao said that after the filing of cases, they will immediately turn over the arrested individuals to the Bureau of Immigration.