SEN. Sherwin Gatchalian yesterday said he will submit to President Marcos a report of the Committee on Ways and Means on the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) so the latter can thoroughly review the panel recommendation to immediately shut down POGO operations.
He said some of his colleagues recommended the submission.
In a radio interview, the committee chairman said the panel report can be forwarded to the President any time even while only seven of the 18 committee members have signed the report as of Thursday last week.
A committee report has to have the signature of the majority members. In this case, it needs to have the signatures of at least 10 of the 18 members so it can be discussed in the plenary. If a committee report is not signed by majority of its members, it remains as such.
Gatchalian said he can submit the panel report to the President to inform him of the ill-effects of the POGO industry on the peace and order situation in the country, as he noted that crimes related to the industry have not stopped despite assurance from the police.
“Some of my colleagues in the Senate have recommended that we send the report to the President because when they reviewed the report, they found out it has basis. I did not invent the figures. These are from the DOF (Department of Finance) and the NEDA (National Economic Development Authority),” he said told radio dzBB in Filipino.
“The President can study this so the executive branch can see how grave the situation is. Let us act while the situation is still manageable, and not wait before something big to happen before we act… We will officially send it to the President so he can go over it and see the arguments,” he added.
A number of committee members were hesitant to sign the report for fear that immediately closing down POGOs would mean that the more than 20,000 Filipinos employed in the industry will lose their jobs.
Other senators said investments of legal POGOs would go to waste if POGOs are immediately shut down, which may send a wrong signal to other would-be investors.
Gatchalian said POGO operators have not invested in buying lands, or have put up buildings since they are only renting office spaces, therefore they did not bring in money to the country.
“They have not constructed buildings and we just see them occupying buildings. That why if we talk of investments, I don’t see them bringing in capital expenditures or hard investment because most of them were only renting office spaces and sleeping quarters,” he added.
Besides, he added, the Philippines is the only country in the world which hosts an industry run mostly by Chinese but banned in their motherland.
CRIMES & INVESTORS
He said the POGO-related crimes drive tourists and investors away from the country.
“When we hear that certain crimes happen in a country, we will be scared and not go there, especially the ordinary tourists. So it will appear that the loss of investments has reached almost P25 billion, and loss in tourism is P20 billion. If we combine them, it will be negative P8 billion in cost benefit analysis. We also have to spend to arrest law breakers from the POGO industry. We also stand to lose investors, and we also have negative cost benefit analysis,” he said.
Before Congress went on break on Wednesday last week, Gatchalian delivered a privilege speech containing his chairman’s report which outlined the negative effects of POGO industry.
He urged the Executive branch to “immediately ban POGO operations in the country with the end in view of upholding the safety of the Filipino people” to the unabated crimes associated with the industry.
He also urged Congress to pass a measure that would separate the functions of regulation from operations in the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) charter, saying the new entity should be created to perform solely regulatory functions, authorization, and licensing of games of chance and other forms of gambling.
Gatchalian also called on the Department of Labor and Employment to look for alternative jobs for Filipinos who would be displaced.
He said the Bureau of Internal Revenue should collect the tax liabilities of PAGCOR’s third party auditor, POGO licenses, and their service providers, which can be used to finance priority projects of the government.
Likewise, he said the Bureau of Immigration should cancel and revoke working visas issued to POGO workers and deport them following immigration rules.
“To sum it up, POGO operations bring more harm to the country. It is high time to stop its operations,” he said in Filipino.
