{"id":324765,"date":"2024-07-09T19:08:42","date_gmt":"2024-07-10T00:08:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?p=324765"},"modified":"2024-07-10T10:30:21","modified_gmt":"2024-07-10T15:30:21","slug":"illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/","title":{"rendered":"Illegal Philippine ‘POGO’ Hospitals Provide Plastic Surgery to Fugitives"},"content":{"rendered":"

Authorities in the Philippines have uncovered an underground hospital linked to the POGO (online gambling) industry<\/a> and say they know of two more such operations.<\/p>\n

\"Underground
Shock discovery: Philippine police discovered an illegal hospital inside an online gambling compound in Pasay City, above, complete with hair transplant tools, dental implants, and skin whitening drips. (Image: PAOCC)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

They believe the hospitals are being used to treat POGO workers who can’t use regular health services because they’re in the country illegally, or may have been trafficked to the Philippines to work. Authorities also suspect the operations are providing cosmetic alterations to help fugitives evade capture.<\/p>\n

During a raid in May on the underground medical facility in Pasay City, police found hair transplant tools, dental implants, and skin-whitening drips.<\/strong><\/p>\n

“If you bring all these things together, you can create an entirely new person out of those,” Winston John Casio, a spokesman for the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), told reporters Monday.<\/p>\n

What\u2019s a POGO?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

POGO stands for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator. The industry is largely dominated by Chinese nationals and thrived under the tenure of former president Rodrigo Duterte, who licensed and taxed the industry provided it agreed not to target Philippine citizens. Instead, it focuses on China, where all forms of online gambling are illegal.<\/p>\n

Duterte\u2019s successor, President Bongbong Marcos, has vowed to crack down<\/a> on the POGOs, many of which have been found to have trafficked workers to toil in scam centers as virtual slaves.<\/p>\n

In June, 150 Chinese nationals were rescued after police raided a POGO compound in Porac, Pampanga province, where they also uncovered torture devices<\/strong><\/p>\n

More than 4,000 POGO-linked crimes, including kidnapping and murder, were reported from January 2017 to the first half of last year, according to police data.<\/p>\n

“The president does not want the Philippines to be painted as a ‘scam hub’ and has given us a directive to go after scam farms because of how they have been targeting large numbers of people from all over the world,” Casio said.<\/p>\n

New Faces<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Police are now trying to determine whether the underground hospitals are linked to reports of fugitives changing their appearance to avoid detection.<\/p>\n

In December 2022, immigration officials arrested a suspected member of the Chinese Mafia, Andy Chen, who had links to human trafficking and the POGO industry. The Immigration Bureau reported that Chen had undergone cosmetic surgery in an attempt to conceal his true identity.<\/p>\n

\n

Police were alerted to the presence of the unlicensed clinic by an informant, according to Casio. They arrested two Vietnamese doctors, one Chinese doctor, a Chinese pharmacist, and a Vietnamese nurse at the scene. None were licensed to practice medicine in the Philippines.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

Casino said two additional underground hospitals exist in the Metro Manila area, which are bigger than the Pasay City facility. He believes \u201ca good number\u201d of such operations may exist across the country.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Authorities in the Philippines have uncovered an underground hospital linked to the POGO (online gambling) industry and say they know of two more such operations. They believe the hospitals are being used to treat POGO workers who can’t use regular health services because they’re in the country illegally, or may have been trafficked to the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":36,"featured_media":324766,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[69069,21,19],"tags":[91629,83353,82836,91628],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nIllegal Philippine 'POGO' Hospitals Provide Plastic Surgery to Fugitives<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Underground hospitals linked to Philippine online gambling industry treat illegal workers and provide cosmetic surgery to fugitives: police.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Illegal Philippine 'POGO' Hospitals Provide Plastic Surgery to Fugitives\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Underground hospitals linked to Philippine online gambling industry treat illegal workers and provide cosmetic surgery to fugitives: police.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Casino.org\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2024-07-10T00:08:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2024-07-10T15:30:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/POGO.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@casinoorgphilc\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@Casino_Org\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Philip Conneller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/\",\"name\":\"Illegal Philippine 'POGO' Hospitals Provide Plastic Surgery to Fugitives\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/POGO.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2024-07-10T00:08:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2024-07-10T15:30:21+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\"},\"description\":\"Underground hospitals linked to Philippine online gambling industry treat illegal workers and provide cosmetic surgery to fugitives: police.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/POGO.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/POGO.jpg\",\"width\":1200,\"height\":800,\"caption\":\"Shock discovery: Philippine police discovered an illegal hospital inside an online gambling compound in Pasay City, above, complete with hair transplant tools, dental implants, and skin whitening drips. (Image: PAOCC)\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Asia Pacific Gaming\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/asia-pacific-gaming\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Illegal Philippine ‘POGO’ Hospitals Provide Plastic Surgery to Fugitives\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/\",\"name\":\"Casino.org\",\"description\":\"Latest Casino and Gaming News\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b\",\"name\":\"Philip Conneller\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png\",\"caption\":\"Philip Conneller\"},\"description\":\"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller\",\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk\",\"https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Illegal Philippine 'POGO' Hospitals Provide Plastic Surgery to Fugitives","description":"Underground hospitals linked to Philippine online gambling industry treat illegal workers and provide cosmetic surgery to fugitives: police.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Illegal Philippine 'POGO' Hospitals Provide Plastic Surgery to Fugitives","og_description":"Underground hospitals linked to Philippine online gambling industry treat illegal workers and provide cosmetic surgery to fugitives: police.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/","og_site_name":"Casino.org","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Casino.OrgNews","article_published_time":"2024-07-10T00:08:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2024-07-10T15:30:21+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1200,"height":800,"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/POGO.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Philip Conneller","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@casinoorgphilc","twitter_site":"@Casino_Org","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Philip Conneller","Est. reading time":"3 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/","name":"Illegal Philippine 'POGO' Hospitals Provide Plastic Surgery to Fugitives","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/POGO.jpg","datePublished":"2024-07-10T00:08:42+00:00","dateModified":"2024-07-10T15:30:21+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b"},"description":"Underground hospitals linked to Philippine online gambling industry treat illegal workers and provide cosmetic surgery to fugitives: police.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/POGO.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/POGO.jpg","width":1200,"height":800,"caption":"Shock discovery: Philippine police discovered an illegal hospital inside an online gambling compound in Pasay City, above, complete with hair transplant tools, dental implants, and skin whitening drips. (Image: PAOCC)"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/illegal-philippine-pogo-hospitals-provide-plastic-surgery-to-fugitives\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Asia Pacific Gaming","item":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/asia-pacific-gaming\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Illegal Philippine ‘POGO’ Hospitals Provide Plastic Surgery to Fugitives"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/","name":"Casino.org","description":"Latest Casino and Gaming News","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/58769b72851c8cf117fb58ca150ebf8b","name":"Philip Conneller","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/03\/cropped-5-1-96x96.png","caption":"Philip Conneller"},"description":"In Philip Conneller\u2019s eight years with Casino.org, he has covered the gaming industry from Las Vegas to Macau and everything in between. He currently focuses his coverage on gaming law, white-collar crime, global money laundering, tribal gaming, politics, and regulation. Philip was the original features editor for poker\u2019s Bluff Magazine and editor for Bluff Europe, which he helped launch. His writing has also been featured in ESPN, Forbes, Time Out, The Sun, and The Daily Star, as well as iGaming Business, eGaming Review, and numerous other industry news and tech websites. His news stories for Casino.org\/news have been linked by The Washington Post, The Daily Mail, People Magazine, and Jimmy Fallon's Tonight Show, among many others. Philip once won $20,000 with 7-2 off-suit. He has been reprimanded for unwittingly playing Elton John\u2019s piano on two separate occasions on both sides of the Atlantic. He became a writer because he is a lousy pianist. Philip lives outside London with his wife and children, where he spends his time agonizing about Arsenal FC. Contact Philip at philip.conneller@casino.org.","sameAs":["https:\/\/muckrack.com\/philip-conneller","https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/philip-conneller-1495a48\/?originalSubdomain=uk","https:\/\/x.com\/casinoorgphilc"],"url":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/author\/phillip-conneller\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324765"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/36"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=324765"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324765\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":324822,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/324765\/revisions\/324822"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/324766"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=324765"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=324765"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.casino.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=324765"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}