Wed | 03.04.2020 | 06:00 PM

PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Andrea Domingo hands over a check worth P5 million to DOJ Secretary Menardo Guevarra. The financial grant will be used to procure IT equipment for DOJ’s Office of Cybercrime’s Cyber Fusion Operations Center. Also in photo are (from right) PAGCOR’s executives VP for Corporate Social Responsibility James Patrick Bondoc, Asst. Vice President for Community Relations and Services Ramon Stephen Villaflor, Director Carmen Pedrosa, Director Rene Concordia, President and COO Alfredo Lim, VP for Compliance and Governance Juanito Sañosa, VP for Offshore Gaming Licensing Jose Tria; DOJ OIC for Cybercrime Charito Zamora and other officials from DOJ.

In line with its fight against illegal gambling in the country, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) initially released P5 million to the Department of Justice, Office of Cybercrime (DOJ-OOC).

The amount which is just the first tranche of the P11.08 million financial grant will be used for the operation of DOJ’s Office of Cybercrime’s Cyber Fusion Operations Center (OpCen).

The financial grant will be used to procure Information Technology equipment for the OpCen, which shall serve as the complaint and monitoring center of the inter-agency council against illegal online gaming.

On March 21, 2019, a Mutual Cooperation Agreement was signed by PAGCOR, Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Immigration and DOJ-OCC to handle intelligence gathering, investigations and prosecutions of illegal online gaming activities. The inter-agency council was formed in response to Executive Order No. 13 which aims to strengthen the fight against illegal gambling.

PAGCOR Chairman Andrea Domingo said the agency is closely working with other concerned agencies for the smooth implementation of the OpCen. “We really want to help especially if it’s related to cybercrime. The P5 million funding is just an initial grant to DOJ-OOC,” she said.

Based on the Memorandum of Agreement signed by PAGCOR and DOJ on March 3, 2020, the initial amount must be liquidated before the next tranche may be released.

“Our auditor will review the liquidation report from DOJ. Until then can we give the second tranche or the remaining amount they need for the completion of the project,” Domingo shared.

DOJ-OOC Officer-in-Charge Atty. Charito Zamora said the OpCen once established, will be manned by their office and function as the command cluster and computer forensic cluster of the inter-agency council.

“The OpCen will operate on a multi-level functions serving as communications facility and hands-on ready training facility. It will definitely help the council in reinforcing its fight against the rampant proliferation of illegal online gambling. We thank PAGCOR for their all out support for the creation of the OpCen. It will help all the members of the task force to prevent and suppress cybercrime in the country,” she expressed.

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