Philippines detains hundreds of Chinese in casino raid

Philippine Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aquirre gives a press conference in this still image from a file video posted on YouTube by News That Matter. (Courtesy of NTM Video)

MANILA: More than 1,300 Chinese citizens have been arrested in the Philippines for working illegally at an unlicensed online gaming business, the immigration bureau said Tuesday.
Those arrested during a raid on Nov. 24 were working illegally at Fontana Leisure Park and Casino, which is operated by Macau-based gambling tycoon Jack Lam at Clark Freeport in Pampanga province, north of Manila.
Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said he expects more illegal workers to be arrested after the court issued a search warrant to break open locked facilities in the casino’s building where other Chinese nationals were kept from police raiders.
“We are sending a message to all who break any of our laws. Break it and we will go after you,” Aguirre told reporters.
He also revealed attempts by operators to offer bribes for the release of the illegal workers.
“We will be uncompromising in our fight against crime and corruption,” he said.
Online gaming is strictly regulated in the country with only state-owned Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corp. and Cagayan Economic Zone Authority authorized to grant licenses.
The Justice Department said those arrested were reportedly running online gambling operations that catered mostly to high rollers from mainland China.
Lam’s casino license is only for onsite games. In addition to Fontana, Lam operates the casino in northern Laoag city.
China has expressed concern over the raid and said Manila must guarantee “humanitarian treatment” of those being held
China is “highly concerned about the detention by the Philippine side of such large number(s) of Chinese citizens,” Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Geng Shuang told reporters in Beijing Monday.
Philippine immigration bureau spokesperson Maria Antoinette Mangrobang said, “we’re just enforcing Philippine immigration law.”
She said some of those arrested have been “charged for immigration offenses, for engaging in gainful activity at an unlicensed online gaming business.”
Some of the people detained had arrived recently on tourist visas and others had working visas, Mangrobang said, adding that they could still be found guilty if their permit was unrelated to their actual line of work.
The arrests come after President Rodrigo Duterte made a state visit to China in October in a bid to repair bilateral ties damaged by rival claims over South China Sea islands and waters.