BAMBAN, Tarlac (June 26, 2025) — The incoming local chief executive said that he plans to utilize the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hub buildings here as schools and a hospital.
“Our town lacks schools and a major hospital when the POGO hub is turned over to Bamban,” Mayor-elect Jose Salting Jr. said recently on the sidelines of Bam Aquino’s oath-taking in Concepcion.
According to Salting, the properties inside the POGO hub are currently under the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Task Force (PAOCTF), which is still wrapping up its investigations. There are at least 36 buildings inside the gambling hub just behind the municipal hall.
The Zun Yuan Technology-run online gambling den was raided by the PAOCTF-led authorities in March last year and rescued 868 POGO workers – 371 Filipinos and 497 foreign nationals. The raid was based on two court-issued search warrants for alleged human trafficking and serious illegal detention of the POGO workers.
The raid led to the eventual removal of Bamban’s mayor, Alice Guo, after subsequent investigations. Guo is currently detained at the Pasig City jail.
Guo pipped Salting in the 2022 elections only by 468 votes. Salting then went on to win in the 2023 barangay elections and became an Ex-Officio Member of the Sangguniang Panlalawigan.
