THE chair of the House committee on appropriations on Sunday urged government to step up its crackdown on illegal online gaming operators after 265 Chinese nationals were arrested in Las Piñas City last Thursday, saying they are violating community quarantine protocols.
“You have no business being in our country, literally and figuratively speaking,” said Anti-Crime and Terrorism Community Involvement and Support (ACT-CIS) party-list Rep. Eric Yap, calling the groups “NOGOs” or Non-Registered Offshore Gaming Operations.
During the Las Piñas City raid, police recovered P6,463,490 in cash, 143 pieces of foreign currency bills, assorted laptop computers, desktop computers, central processing units (CPUs), cellphones, and other computer gadgets.
Yap said there is a need to intensify the campaign against illegal operators because aside from the POGOs’
illegal gaming operations, “they are also breaching the security and health protocols observed during the community quarantine.”
“Kung sino pa ang illegal, sila pa ang malakas ang loob na mag-violate nito (Those who are operating illegally are the also ones bold enough to violate it),” he said.
Last April, Yap asked the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to allow Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs) to operate to help the government raise revenues to fund its anti-COVID measures.
Yap has said the suspension of POGO operations should be lifted immediately “to give our tax collection a much-needed boost.”
PAGCOR said the suspension was implemented to ensure safety of all employees and to prevent further spread of the virus by limiting its workers’ movements but POGOs were eventually allowed by the Inter-agency Task Force on the Management of Emerging Infectious Diseases (IATF) to resume operations.
“Sinisira ng mga NOGOs ang imahe ng mga legitimong POGO companies sa bansa na fully compliant (NOGOs are destroying the image of legitimate POGO companies in the country that are fully compliant),” Yap said.
The lawmaker, a known close ally of presidential son deputy speaker Paolo Duterte of Davao City, insisted that POGOs are helping Filipinos because these provide revenues to the country in the face of reports that the industry only contributes a minuscule .04 percent to the country’s domestic economy.
“Maraming kababayan natin ang natutulungan ng industriya na ito sa pamamagitan ng mga fees at taxes nila. Malaking bagay ‘yun ngayon na kailangan natin ng pondo para makabangon mula sa krisis na kinakaharap natin ngayon (Many of our citizens benefit from this industry through fees and taxes. It’s a big help especially now that we need funds to recover from this crisis that we’re facing),” he said.
PAGCOR AVP for Offshore Gaming Licensing Department Jose Tria, Jr. said tracing illegal offshore gaming operators is easy at this time since only several POGO sites were given the green light to partially resume operations “subject to strict conditions.”
“These NOGOs are unaware that POGOs which will resume operations will undergo thorough evaluation and inspection from PAGCOR. So we know which specific sites will be allowed to resume operations. Consequently, NOGOs right now are easily identifiable since not all POGO sites will resume operations,” Tria said.
Apart from implementing rules to effectively regulate POGO operations in the country, PAGCOR has been working closely with the Philippine National Police, National Bureau of Investigation, Bureau of Immigration, and the Office of Cybercrime under the Department of Justice to curb illegal gambling operations.
The agencies have formed a task force that will handle intelligence gathering on illegal online gambling, centralized information sharing, intelligence operations, surveillance, raids, arrest and prosecution of illegal online gaming activities. PAGCOR validates licenses, provides business, tax and other information on record to help arrest and penalize illegal gambling operators in the country.
