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Philippines uncovers illegal ‘Pogo hospitals’ offering fugitives extreme makeovers
- Secretive clinics linked to lucrative Chinese-dominated sector are suspected of helping criminals transform their identities to evade arrest
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Illegal hospitals linked to the Philippines’ offshore gaming operators (Pogo) sector are suspected of providing cosmetic alterations to help fugitives evade arrest, authorities revealed after raiding an underground medical facility in Pasay City.
Tools for hair transplants, dentures, and even a room for “gluta drip” skin whitening sessions – all services apparently catering to a clientele of Chinese nationals involved in the controversial Pogo sector – were uncovered by the Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission (PAOCC) after the raid in May.
The trove of equipment at the clandestine hospital could transform a person’s appearance to the point of being unrecognisable, PAOCC spokesman Winston John Casio told This Week in Asia.
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The commission is now investigating how extensively these underground hospitals are assisting fugitives in assuming fake identities to evade justice.
“They had an operating table, and other aesthetic alteration procedures such as dental implants, hair restoration, facial rejuvenation, and so on,” he said. “If you bring all of these together, you can create an entirely new person out of those.”
Casio said the commission acted on a tip from an informant that an unlicensed hospital was operating on Pasay City’s Macapagal Boulevard as a stand-alone facility.
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