The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) signed standard operating procedures and internal policies at a high-level ceremony in Manila on 22 April, according to the UN Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC)1. The procedures set out a rights-based and victim-centered approach to implementing the regulations that ban Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), which UNODC says were often used as cover for scam centers run by criminal syndicates1.
The procedures cover the repatriation of victims, the taking of witness statements and collection of evidence, the custody of alleged perpetrators, and asset recovery1. UNODC said the signing followed its support for the commission, and that the measures are meant to guide enforcement of the POGO ban1.
Benjamin C. Acorda, Executive Director of PAOCC, said at the signing:
"This significant undertaking reflects our collective resolve to strengthen inter-agency coordination, enhance operational efficiency, and reinforce our national framework in addressing organized and transnational crime."
Executive Secretary Ralph G. Recto, who as Finance Secretary in 2024 recommended to the President that POGOs be banned, said revenues the industry claimed to generate could not justify what it left behind1.
"Whatever revenues POGOs claimed to generate could never justify the lawlessness, exploitation, and social decay they left behind."
UNODC reported that PAOCC has so far liberated 5,949 people, including 3,483 foreigners, and that 218 perpetrators are awaiting trial1. The scam center in Pasay City that police raided, a few hundred meters from embassies, government departments and the city hall, has been converted into PAOCC's headquarters; parts of it, including the former entertainment area, gaming hall and torture chamber, were left intact, and a portion now houses a Department of Social Welfare and Development kitchen that can serve around 700 people a day1.
UNODC also described the enforcement problem behind the new procedures. A former PAOCC Operations Director said police had 36 hours to file charges after a raid on a scam center's headquarters in Metro Manila last year, and that proving a cybercrime in that window was not possible, so they brought human trafficking charges instead1. UNODC estimates at least 300,000 people work in scam centers in Southeast Asia, in Myanmar, Cambodia, Laos and other countries1. The UN Convention against Cybercrime, adopted by the General Assembly in December 2024, is described as the first globally legally binding treaty designed to combat digital crime1.
What it means for players
The procedures concern enforcement against scam centers and the POGO industry, not the rules for ordinary gamblers. POGOs were offshore operators serving customers abroad, and the ban on them is separate from the domestic licensed market. For anyone gambling in the Philippines, the practical relevance is the link UNODC draws between POGO compounds and online fraud: the same criminal networks ran gambling scams and recruitment fraud, and the commission's figures show how many foreign workers were found inside these sites. The signing does not change licensing, taxes or player protections for domestic operators, and no new rules for individual bettors were announced. Reporting routes for scam sites and compounds are set out in the guide to gambling scams and safety in Asia.
What happens next
UNODC said it organized a visit in December 2025 for police and immigration officers from across Southeast Asia to the Pasay City site, funded by the European Union, so they could learn from PAOCC's experience1. No further dated steps were reported.
