SEN. Joel Villanueva yesterday said three or four local government officials from the National Capital Region (NCR), Central Luzon and Southern Tagalog are involved in the operations of illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) facilities in their jurisdictions.
Villanueva said his office has received “raw” information about the local executives’ supposed links with the POGOs.
He said he has forwarded the information gathered by his office to law enforcement agencies for verification.
Villanueva said one of the tips involved the alleged disregard of local officials on the suspicious presence of around 30 to 40 Chinese individuals in their locality, which he did not disclose since it is now purportedly subject of an ongoing investigation.
He said another information his office received was the ongoing construction at a property in Marilao, Bulacan which is supposedly owned by suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo.
The Bulacan property, according to the senator, is listed in Guo’s Statement of Assets, Liabilities, and Net worth.
“For example, Mayor Guo’s address in Marilao, maraming construction. Sana ay aware dito ang LGU. Yan din po ang ilan sa nakukuha natin (For example, there are ongoing construction activities in Mayor Guo’s address in Marilao. I hope the LGU is aware of these),” he said, adding that it was in Bulacan that Guo was last seen, citing a report of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI).
He said he has called concerned local officials in the three regions and inquired if they were aware of the information that was obtained by his office but they replied “not that I know of, but we will check.”
Villanueva reminded local officials that they can be held liable once the information are proven to be true.
Villanueva said he is not surprised about reports that local executives are involved in the operations of or are protecting illegal POGOs since money from offshore gaming operations, which run in the billions of pesos, can easily find their way to the pockets of corrupt public official.
“With the amount of money that’s flowing from this operation, lobbyists coming from chief executives, from local government units, I’m almost sure there is. Even in the legislature, even in the judiciary,” Villanueva said at the Kapihan sa Senado media forum.
“Marami nang influence ang POGO, malawak na malawak na. With this amount of money, malawak na malawak na (The influence of POGOs has reached our officials. With their amount of money, their influence is great),” he added.
Villanueva said President Marcos Jr.’s announcement banning POGOs is timely as money from the offshore gaming industry will no longer be able to produce elective officials, especially with the midterm elections scheduled next year.
“Kasi magaling silang magtago. Can you imagine nakapag-produce sila ng isang local chief executive? Hindi nga po natin alam kung ilan dahil ako, hindi ako masu-surprise na meron na rin po o madami na rin nasa posisyon ngayon o nasa executive man o nasa legislative or we are not even surprised pati sa judiciary (Because they [POGO operators] are experts. Can you imagine that they were able to produce a local chief executive? We really don’t know how many there are, but I will not be surprised if we find them at the Executive, in the Legislative, or even in the Judiciary),” he said.
He added that another example of the influence of gambling is the “e-sabong” games which he said were used to finance candidates whom he considered as non-performers.
Villanueva advised voters to choose candidates wisely and not be swayed by survey results.
“Kaya yung mga kababayan natin eh huwag kayong magpapaloko. Huwag po tayong magpabili ng boto natin. Eleksiyon na naman. Huwag tayong mag-eelect ng mga butaw candidates (That’s why I am calling on our countrymen, do not be fooled. Do not sell your votes. Next year it’s election time again, do not vote for candidates who cannot do anything),” he added.
ANTI-POGO ACT
Villanueva said he will ask Senate President Francis Escudero to include in their priority legislative agenda the passage of the Anti-POGO Act which he filed earlier this week.
“I’ll talk to him about it if we can fast-track this important measure,” he said.
He said that even if his bill has not yet been passed into law, all those involved in the operations of illegal POGOs can already be held accountable since they have already violated existing laws.
CEZA
Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile yesterday backed the President’s decision to ban POGOs, saying it is a “money-laundering operation.”
“I agree with what he said, I will kick out POGO in this country,” the 100-year-old Enrile told reporters at the sidelines of the hearing of the Joint Committee on Public Order and Safety and Games and Amusement on the social ills caused by POGOs, which proliferated during the Duterte administration.
In his third State of the Nation Address (SONA) last week, Marcos Jr. ordered the closure of all POGO hubs, including and Internet Gaming Licensees (IGLs) by the end of the year.
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) has said there are 402 canceled or illegal POGOs, as well as identified scam farms.
The elder Enrile said former president Rodrigo Duterte’s Executive Order 13, which led to the proliferation of POGOs, was “ill-advised.”
“They did not study it well. My God! POGO was banned by Cambodia, banned by many countries in Central Asia, and we adopted it here. And why is it that until now, you have POGOs in Bamban (Tarlac) and Porac (Pampanga) and without being able to control them? Is that a wise decision, wise activity?” he said.
EO No. 13, which was issued on Feb. 2, 2017, allowed the POGO industry to operate outside of ecozones, which allowed it to multiply.
The former Senate president attended the House with his daughter, Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) Administrator Katrina Ponce Enrile, who said the CEZA is being unfairly dragged into the issue because of POGO-related crimes when its own offshore gaming licensees or its internet gaming (iGaming) operators had nothing to do with it.
The younger Enrile said there are no POGOs in the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZFP) because its iGaming operations are not considered POGOs.
“There are no POGOs in CEZA. There never was and there never will be,” the younger Enrile told the joint panel.
She explained that CEZA “has the authority to conduct offshore iGaming operations since it can register enterprises organized or domiciled in the Philippines or any foreign country.”
Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) chair Alejandro Tengco earlier said that there are some questions on whether or not the POGOs inside CEZA are covered by the total POGO ban announced by the President.
The younger Enrile said internet gaming in CSEZFP started in 2002, long before the P OGO industry started although its concept was copied from CEZA’s iGaming operations.
CEZA, she added, established itself as the first “interactive gaming jurisdiction in Asia and stood at the forefront of regulatory innovation” until Duterte issued EO No. 13 mandating “all gaming and gaming-related activities to operate inside the territorial jurisdiction of the authority that issued the license.”
She said POGOs are different from CEZA’s iGaming system since the Pagcor “dictated” the rules on POGO operations and “it actually transformed into something else that was not any more reflective of what was being done within (the CSEZFP).”
The elder Enrile, who is the author of Republic Act (RA) No. 7922 which established the CEZA, also defended the iGaming operations, saying the economic zone is “the anchor of the safety and the national security of the country.”
“We have no enemy that can attack us from the east. Our enemies may come from the south, southwest, west, northwest, and none in the east and the north,” he told lawmakers. “In case of war, the western flank of this country (like what’s happening in Metro Manila) will be vacated and all those investments will go to naught. And the people will starve to death. Can you imagine that?”
Enrile asked House members to establish special economic zones in certain strategic areas. “You must always think of country first. How to provide them with their livelihoods and how to keep them safe from other countries. Every country around us is our potential enemy. No exceptions,” he said.
“And that’s why may I beg those who have, in their minds, to destroy CEZA (Cagayan Economic Zone Authority) just stop it. That is the purpose for CEZA. Until today, that purpose is being pursued,” he added. — With Wendell Vigilia
