Debate over the future of the Philippines’ online gaming industry continues to rage, with Joey Salceda – Chairman of the House Committee on Ways and Means and Albay 2nd district Rep – stating this week that banning the POGO industry “defies legal logic”.
According to the Manila Bulletin, Salceda believes winding down the POGO industry would cause more damage than good, not only wiping out up to Php8 billion (US$145 million) in tax revenues but also Php192 billion (US$3.5 billion) gross value-added loss on real estate, labor, ancillary cost and other related services and industries that play a key role in supporting the POGO industry.
“More importantly, there isn’t any legal logic by which we can discriminate against POGOs as a class of businesses. Making arbitrary or special exceptions against a business hurts our credibility,” Salcea said.
“A phaseout of an entire industry on the basis of the violations of some of them does not make sense if you apply it to any other business either. So, I disagree with both a ban and a phaseout.”
His comments follow calls by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian for the POGO industry to be shut down, stating recently 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.”
Chairman of the Senate Public Order and Dangerous Drugs Committee, Ronald ‘’Bato’’ dela Rosa, said last week that POGOs should be wound down gradually and in the meantime moved to a controlled zone is recommended to allow the government to “strictly supervise their operations and avoid the occurrence of crimes.”
However, gaming regulator PAGCOR has maintained its stance that the POGO industry is here to stay – albeit with greater supervision.
“The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) would like to reiterate its firm commitment to uphold the integrity of the gaming industry in the Philippines, including offshore gaming,” the agency said in a recent statement.
“PAGCOR reassures the public that to maintain the integrity of regulated gaming in the country, the state-run firm will not hesitate to impose appropriate sanctions or penalties to erring licensees or service providers. We will ensure that all revenues from regulated gaming will continue to support the government’s nation-building efforts and uplift the lives of Filipinos.”
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