BI eyes deporting 345 Chinese POGO workers by yearend

MANILA, Philippines — The Bureau of Immigration (BI) is targeting to deport the remaining 345 Chinese who formerly worked in illegal Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) companies in December this year, an official said yesterday.

BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said the bureau has deported 27 of 372 Chinese illegal POGO workers. The first batch, six Chinese, was deported on Oct. 19 and the second batch of 21 more was deported on Wednesday. They were sent to Wuhan.

“We are hoping that we can maximize the implementation of the deportation to decongest our holding facilities,” Sandoval said.

She said there is no schedule yet for the next batch of deportees.

Asked why the BI deported the Chinese workers in batches, Sandoval explained that they are working closely with the Chinese embassy, which is responsible for issuing the travel documents of its citizens.

This means the BI can only process the deportation once the workers’ travel documents are available, she said.

She also clarified that the BI will deport only 372 Chinese while nearly 49,000 other Chinese will be ordered to leave the country within 60 days through the visa cancellation procedure so that the Philippine government does not have to spend for their deportation.

She said that the BI has issued orders to leave to more than 1,000 Chinese. The BI will initiate deportation proceedings against those who refuse to leave the country.

The deportation of Chinese POGO workers came after the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. closed down several POGO companies for illegally operating in the country.