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Inside job?: Sen. Mark Villar says the recent entrapment operation conducted by members of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) against a travel agency for issuing fake documents bearing Filipino citizenships to foreign nationals brings to light the possible involvement of various government agencies in the illegal activity. Villar said the discovery might be the “missing link” in the investigation against the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs). “Some of their fake documents were marriage certificates, birth certificates and passports of foreign nationals using Filipino names. These illegal agencies that issue fake documents are sure to have connections with various government agencies. They might have an accomplice to be able to issue these fake documents. This makes us realize that we barely scratched the surface of this POGO issue. We need to look at the angle that there is an inside job. This is the possible reason for the continued entry of foreign nationals into the Philippines using fake documents,” Villar said during the public hearing Thursday, February 13, 2025 on the directive of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos to ban POGOs in the country. Villar said the committee would also want to know about the status of the deportation of foreign POGO workers, especially those who worked in the Philippines using fake and illegal documents, the total number of foreign POGO workers deported and the Bureau of Immigration’s plan regarding the remaining foreign POGO workers in the country. (Public Relations and Information Bureau)