MANILA – State lawyers will initiate a thorough inventory of assets of shuttered Philippine overseas gaming operators (POGOs) after the deadline set by President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. for a ban on the industry lapsed at the end of 2024, the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) said Wednesday.
“The OSG’s massive post-POGO tasks will consist of cancelling all certificates of birth fraudulently acquired by aliens/foreign nationals and forfeiting their illegally acquired real properties and other assets in the Philippines,” Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said in a message to reporters.
He said they are yet to estimate the scale of the value of assets involved, which may include vast swaths of real estate outside the capital.
“At this time, we have no definite figures on the aggregate value of these assets. The first order of the day is to take possession of and control over them,” Guevarra said.
Congressional probes have determined that some Chinese nationals used fake birth certificates to gain Filipino citizenship, enabling them to form corporations and acquire properties for illegal activities, including drug trafficking.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin earlier said the government is exhausting all efforts to fast-track the process of acquiring the seized properties and assets of POGOs.
He stressed that while there are already laws on forfeiture of properties, the process is “very slow.”
Both the Senate and the House of Representatives are eyeing the passage of a measure authorizing the forfeiture of all POGO assets “in favor of the government.”
Under the proposed measure, the government will take over all buildings, materials, equipment and proceeds of illegal POGOs. (PNA)