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‘Their connections are getting deeper’: Sen. Win Gatchalian, during the public hearing Wednesday, June 26, 2024, of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, on the alleged criminal activities perpetuated by Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), calls on his colleagues to support the call to ban POGOs in the country. Gatchalian took note the importance of late registration of birth certificates, being taken advantage by those who should not be Filipinos. The senator said that once one becomes a Filipino, he or she can take over a business, buy land, invest in different companies, get an NBI clearance and even run as a public servant. “It has been happening again and again,” Gatchalian said in Filipino, stressing that POGO hubs in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac, Pampanga were raided several times. “These criminal syndicates will not stop because of the amount of money that comes in and circulates. And we have also seen that it does not go through formal channels, does not appear in their income statements. It comes in without us seeing it, they use it to build these POGO hubs and it's scary because they can also use it to bribe or buy influence,” he said. “They are coming in, doing bad things and their connections are getting deeper,” he added. (Bibo Nueva España/Senate PRIB)