OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR RISA HONTIVEROS DURING THE SENATE COMMITTEE ON WOMEN HEARING ON SCAM HUBS
August 02, 2023

Friends, we call this hearing to order.

This will not be a long opening statement because there are many questions that need to be asked and many issues that need to be resolved. For this hearing, babalikan natin ang mga naiwan nating mga katanungan tungkol sa Clark na raid, addressing questions to the incorporators of Colorful group. Then I will ask policy questions of PAGCOR and DICT. Tapos ako po ay magtatanong ng ilang katanungan sa natapos na raid sa Las Pinas.

Nakailan na tayo na hearing at palinaw na palinaw na these human trafficking hubs are energized by and find refuge under POGOs. Our failure to regulate these online gambling outfits has resulted in these spaces of human desperation right under our noses.

I also want to ask what do we do moving forward. This scam hub phenomenon is a black swan that was not even considered when we were drafting amendments to Republic Act No. 9208. Now, it is a humanitarian crisis crossing borders and affecting not only Filipinos but our regional neighbors. It is absolutely imperative that we look at how gaps in policy and implementation failures contribute to the exacerbation of the human trafficking situation.

Pero bago po tayo dumako diyan, nagagalak akong ibalita na only a few hours ago, while we were all asleep, the men and women of the IACAT conducted a successful raid in a POGO in Pasay City. Ito po ang SKK Compound sa 2741 Zamora corner Gaitos Street, Pasay City, registered under Rivendell Corporation. Wala pa po itong ten minutes mula dito sa Senado. I want to show here photos retrieved from the site.

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