MANILA, Philippines - The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said the Cybercrime Prevention Act being pushed in Congress should provide stiff penalties to prevent the country from becoming a “hotbed” of international online crime syndicates.

PAOCC, headed by Executive Secretary Paquito Ochoa Jr., said it will fully support measures that would impose stiff penalties, including huge fines and long prison terms for cyber criminals.

The appeal came a week after PAOCC supervised the largest single-day operation against organized crime.

Initial investigation revealed that the 377 foreign nationals arrested have links with an international fraud syndicate that operates in the Philippines and abroad.

Among others, they are involved in credit card fraud, large-scale human trafficking and international long distance call bypass operations.

“This should serve as a wake-up call for our lawmakers to enact legislation that would make it difficult for international fraud syndicates to establish a physical presence in the Philippines,” said PAOCC deputy executive director and spokesman Senior Supt. Ranier Idio.

The Bureau of Immigration is now working to deport the foreign nationals, mostly from Taiwan, at the soonest possible time.

Chinese police earlier tapped their counterparts in the Philippines to track down the syndicate, which allegedly started operations in 2007. The operations were supposedly moved to the Philippines in 2010 because of a crackdown in China.