‘Industry-related crimes make PH less attractive’
THE Senate Committee on Ways and Means has recommended the gradual phase-out and eventual termination of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) operations nationwide, citing the industry’s negative social impact in communities where they are located.
Panel chairman Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian filed Committee Report No. 136, on Monday. It was signed by 10 out of the 18 members of the committee.
Those who signed the report were Gatchalian and Senators Ronald dela Rosa, Pia Cayetano, JV Ejercito, Ramon Tulfo, Grace Poe, Risa Hontiveros, Loren Legarda, Joel Villanueva and Aquilino Pimentel III.
The Gatchalian committee urged the Senate to adopt a resolution urging the Executive department to stop POGO operations to safeguard the well-being of Filipinos and maintain a trajectory of growth and development in line with the administration’s economic reforms.
It noted that POGO-related crimes, such as kidnapping, serious illegal detention, human trafficking, money laundering, forcible abductions, homicide, theft, robbery extortion, serious physical injuries, swindling, grave coercion, and converting POGO firms to scam hubs, among others, have adversely affected the country’s peace and order situation, and economic stability.
“While admittedly, social costs may not be calculated with sheer accuracy and completeness, majority of stakeholders agree that criminalities related to POGO operations and activities make the Philippines less attractive as an investment and tourism destination and that reputational risk and integrity hurt the economy in the long term,” it pointed out.
Records from the Philippine National Police (PNP) submitted to the committee showed that POGO-related crimes have reached 4,355 involving 903 perpetrators from January 2017 to June this year alone.
The committee said several countries have already prohibited offshore gaming but the “Philippines filled in the gap via POGOs.”
The operation of POGOs were authorized during the previous Duterte administration, which cited projected income from their operations. But records from the Bureau of Internal Revenues showed that the government did not get the expected profits from the industry, since the industry’s share to the total BIR collections was pegged at only 0.23 percent in 2019, 0.29 percent in 2020, 0.14 percent in 2021, and 0.21 percent from January to September 2022.
Revenues collected from POGOs totaled about P7.2 billion in 2020, but the figure decreased to P3.9 billion the following year.
PAGCOR
In recommending the closure of all POGO businesses, the committee also said that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) failed to effectively regulate POGO operations “despite regulating the said industry for the past five years.”
“The dual role of gambling regulator and gambling operator has put Pagcor in a bind such that as gambling regulator, it has to police erring POGO licensees. Doing so however, Pagcor will be able to generate income from the GGR (gross gaming revenue) of affected licensees, thereby affecting its goal to generate revenues for the government’s socio-civic and national development programs and to help promote the Philippine tourism industry,” it said.
It likewise noted that Pagcor hired a third-party auditor hired to conduct POGO revenues that “lack(ed) credibility.”
RECOMMENDATIONS
Aside from recommending the gradual phase-out of POGOs within three months from the approval of the committee report, the panel also proposed that the government lay out transitory mechanisms such as employment of affected Filipinos working in POGOs through their absorption in Information Technology-Business Process Outsourcing and the manufacturing industries, among others, through proper coordination.
The panel also recommended that the Bureau of Immigration cancel and revoke the working visas issued to foreigners employed in the POGO industry and implement their immediate deportation following immigration rules and regulations.
President Marcos Jr. has previously said that there should be a “good reason” to ban POGOs in the country.
He has said that if POGO operatives have a social cost, then “it might not be worth it. The cost might not be worth what they’re paying in taxes anymore.”
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno has also previously said that he is in favor of stopping the operations of POGOs, citing what he called their “social and reputational risks.”
