Around 104 persons, including 93 alleged Chinese nationals, were arrested in Ortigas, Pasig City on Thursday afternoon for operating illegal gambling activities, the National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) said.

NCRPO Director Guillermo Eleazar said joint elements from NCRPO and Philippine National Police- Anti-Cybercrime Group implemented a search warrant around 1pm at Finasia Tech Inc. at the 2nd floor of Ortigas Techno Point Building 2, Dona Julia Vargas Ave. after authorities confirmed that the company operates illegal online activities.

Eleazar said the company applied as a call center company but didn't apply for online gambling license at Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp ( Pagcor).

"We conducted surveillance on reported illegal online gambling in this facility. So based on our monitoring, we really established (illegal online gambling) here. They applied as call center, but during our verification with Pagcor, we found out they are not license nor they have pending application for online gambling or what we called Philippine offshore gaming operation license agent," he explained.

During the search, elements of the anti-cybercrime group found transactions of online gambling, such as web-based lottery and sports betting in Chinese characters.

"This is a clear violation in our country because first of all they applied for call center operation but they are engaged in online gambling," he said.

Eleazar also questioned the representative of the company why they don't have any idea about their foreign employees.

One of the supervisors told Eleazar that a Chinese client hired the employees.

Eleazar said they will coordinate with the Bureau of Immigration to check if the foreign nationals have proper working permits.

"We will conduct in-depth investigation to found out who are the responsible groups or individuals that facilitated the entry (of employees) and if they have permits and licenses to operate," he said.

The arrested suspects will be brought to Camp Bagong Diwa and will face cases for violating RA 10175 or the Cybercrime Prevention Act of 2012. Ella Dionisio/DMS