Criminal playground

Has the Philippines become a playground of criminals from China?

The slew of headlines in recent weeks seems to bear this out, the latest being the raid on Monday on a prostitution ring fronting as an upscale KTV bar in Makati that caters to mainland Chinese men working for Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos).

Operatives from the National Bureau of Investigation rescued 91 Chinese women and four Filipino women aged 19-27 from the club, some of whom are in the country on tourist visas. The owner, who could face charges of human trafficking, was reportedly in China.

Last month, dozens of Chinese women and some Vietnamese were also rescued from two sex dens, one in a Makati condominium and the other in a yet-to-open apartment building in Parañaque City.

As in the KTV club, the raided premises were exclusive to Chinese men, most of them Pogo workers and executives who registered as customers through an online app.

Aside from these Chinese-only brothels, recent news have highlighted:

The padlocking on Sept. 25 of illegal Pogo service provider Great Empire Gaming and Amusement Corp. in Libis, Quezon City, for nonpayment of over P1.3 billion in taxes. (The firm has since resumed operations after paying an initial P250 million in taxes.)

The closure of the Chinese-owned and -run Fuwei Lending Corp. in Pasig, which numerous complainants said employed shaming tactics against borrowers through their phone contacts list, in violation of the Data Privacy Act of 2012.

The fall from a sixth story office building in Las Piñas of a handcuffed Chinese man in August, in what authorities see as a kidnap-for-ransom scheme targeting insolvent casino gamblers from mainland China.

The arrest in November 2018 of four Chinese nationals who admitted to chopping up their female compatriot inside a Bel-Air, Makati condominium because of jealousy over another woman. The five were employed in a call center involved in illegal online gambling operations.

These cases underscore the rise in the crime rate and social problems associated with the explosion of Pogos in the country and the influx of Chinese workers in the last couple of years.

There are 58 accredited Pogos at this time, with some 138,000 workers from China, according to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. In a budget hearing in September, the Department of Labor and Employment (Dole) said that over 8,000 foreign nationals so far were found to be working in online gaming operations without alien employment permits as of June 2019.

Who knows how many more are working in the country illegally, given that both Dole and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) have been handing out work permits indiscriminately?

Sen. Joel Villanueva has quoted data indicating that Dole issued 169,893 alien employment permits from 2015 to 2018, while the BI issued 233,364 special working permits to Chinese nationals, most of whom ended up working in Pogos, from 2013 to 2018.

And despite the Labor Code stipulating that work permits can only be issued to foreigners if no Filipinos are able and willing to do the job being applied for, the Department of Public Works and Highways has confirmed that Chinese workers are employed in construction jobs in several bridges financed by Chinese grants.

Public Works Secretary Mark Villar’s defense is that this is allowed under an agreement with China. “International treaties have [their] own personality,” he added.

The rash of criminal conduct among some Pogos and Chinese workers raises questions on how diligent labor, immigration and law-enforcement officials have been in monitoring the activities of foreign tourists-turned-workers.

China itself had described online gambling as “the most dangerous tumor in modern society,” and earlier asked the Philippine government to ban all forms of online gambling. To which President Duterte essentially said, “But we need [them]!”

Government officials can cite all the benefits of Pogos on the Philippine economy: a booming real estate market, jobs for Filipinos in allied industries, more money from licensing fees and taxes, more investments.

But with the perceived gold mine of Chinese online gambling have come pernicious byproducts: ordinary Filipinos being priced out of homes as rentals skyrocket to cater to the avalanche of Chinese workers, the widespread violation of laws on residency and employment by foreigners, and now the explosion of crimes that feed off the industry, further straining the country’s already overburdened law-enforcement and justice system. Now the chickens, as they say, are coming home to roost.