SEN. Sherwin “Win” Gatchalian yesterday dismissed as a simple case of “misappreciation” the ruckus over the supposed blacklisting of the Philippines as a tourism destination for Chinese nationals.
Gatchalian made the statement amid the confusion caused by the announcement of Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri that China has purportedly included the Philippines in its blacklist of tourist sites due to the continued operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country, which the Chinese Embassy in Manila denied and branded as “misinformation.”
Zubiri said the misinformation tag was “regrettable” and insisted that the information was relayed by Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian during his courtesy visit to the Senate last Monday.
Gatchalian shrugged off concerns that the incident could strain bilateral relations between Beijing and Manila.
“Simpleng kaso lang ito ng misappreciation. May ipinapaliwanag si Ambassador (Huang) na hindi namin na-appreciate nang gaano dahil sa marami na ring pinag-uusapan (It is just a simple case of misappreciation. Ambassador Huang has been explaining something but we did not appreciate it since we were already discussing a lot of things),” Gatchalian said in an interview with GMA TV.
Gatchalian and Sen. Robin Padilla joined Zubiri during the meeting with Huang.
Gatchalian reiterated that what was clear during their conversation was that the Philippines, like any other countries hosting Chinese-run online gambling like POGOs, can be included in China’s blacklist of tourist destinations since gambling in all forms is illegal in their country.
Gatchalian all has ended well since the Chinese Embassy has already clarified the issue.
“Mabuti na nga na ipinaliwanag dahil may misappreciation nung usapan. Mabuti na rin na naipaliwanag ng Chinese Embassy na walang blacklisting na nangyari (It is good that it has been explained because there was misappreciation during the meeting. It is good that the Chinese Embassy explained that there was no blacklisting that happened),” he said.
Gatchalian, who is the chairperson of the Senate committee on ways and means, said anew that shutting the POGO industry would not take much on the country’s revenues since it contributes only 0.24 percent to the economy.
He said what the government needs to do is to focus on how it would help out the more than 23,000 Filipinos working in legitimate POGO firms who will be affected by the shutdown, if it happens.
