The chair of Philippines Senate’s Committee on Ways and Means has submitted a report calling on the President to immediately shut down the Philippines Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) industry.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, a long-time opponent of POGOs, said last week that the “POGO experiment” had failed to provide the economic benefits it had promised and instead “created new avenues for crime and corruption, damaging our country’s reputation among diplomatic allies, foreign investors, potential tourists, and even our own countrymen,” according to a report by GMA Network.
“The data and evidence on hand all point to the same conclusion: Enough is enough. It is time to ban offshore gaming operations in the Philippines, once and for all.”
Gatchalian also revealed he would submit a Senate resolution on the matter which would recommend include the provision of assistance to local Filipino POGO workers impacted by such a ban, the immediate collection of all outstanding taxes and license fees owed by POGOs, and the cancellation of all working visas and employment permits issued to foreign POGO workers.
Among the key concerns outlined in the report are tax avoidance – Gatchalian said POGOs had under-reported gaming revenues to the tune of Php34.2 billion (US$630 million), resulting in Php1.7 billion (US$31.3 million) in unpaid taxes – and risks to the Philippines’ relationship with China.
“Using the currency and employment data as proxies, we can safely assume that Chinese nationals are the most prolific POGO consumers,” he said.
“This is problematic because gambling is illegal in China … in essence, Chinese nationals are using offshore gaming operations based in the Philippines as a loophole to circumvent Chinese criminal law.”
On Friday, another Senator, Sonny Angara, said he agreed with Gatchalian’s assertion that POGOs should be shut down but suggested legal POGOs should be given time to wind down their operations if such a drastic measure was adopted.
“We respect the work and findings of the committees who have diligently done their work investigating this matter and there is evidence that their presence has had some negative effects, especially in the peace and order domain,” Angara said, as reported by Philippine News Agency.
“However, I don’t believe three months is adequate time and notice to wrap up operations, especially for those who have made substantial investments,” Angara said in a statement.
“A longer period would be more reasonable/justified given it was also the government which invited them to invest in the first place.”
Separately, Gatchalian also asked Congress last week to pass legislation to formally separate the regulator role of PAGCOR from its casino operations arm and to create a new entity to take care of the agency’s regulatory functions. This would ultimately leave PAGCOR as solely a gaming operator.
As reported by IAG, PAGCOR chair and CEO last week proposed the opposite arrangement when he said he expects the agency to privatize its casino operations arm during his term and focus all of its energies on regulation.
