Says POGO operations reason for move
BY RAYMOND AFRICA, JOCELYN MONTEMAYOR and ASHZEL HACHERO
SENATE President Juan Miguel Zubiri yesterday said China has included the Philippines in its “blacklist of tourist sites” due to the continued operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs) in the country.
Zubiri said this was relayed to him by Chinese ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian during his courtesy visit on Monday afternoon. The meeting was also attended by Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Robin Padilla.
“Ambassador Huang said that the Philippines is now part of a blacklist of tourist sites because they do not know if the tourists going (in the Philippines) will be operating or will be joining POGO operations and they do not know if their nationals, the Chinese nationals, who go to the Philippines will be safe from illegal activities being done by the triad, by the syndicates operating POGOs. They might also be kidnapped, mistaken for POGO operators,” Zubiri said during the hearing of the Senate ways and means committee on the benefits of allowing POGOs to continue operating.
“…Because of the problem of POGO, Ambassador Huang said that Philippines is now blacklisted, and tourists are discouraged to go to the Philippines because of this particular problem of POGO and he kept repeating that the social cost is very high,” he also said.
Tourist arrival records show that Chinese top the list of foreign tourists who visited the country during the pre-pandemic times, with more than two million of them visiting the country in 2019.
Malacañang said the country has yet to receive or see an official advisory from China that it has blacklisted the country as a tourist destination due to the operations of POGOs.
Undersecretary Cheloy Garafil, who is the officer-in-charge of the Office of the Press Secretary, refused to to speculate or comment on the issue pending an official advisory from China.
“Sa totoo lang, wala pa po kaming nari-receive na advisory with respect to that blacklisting issue. So kapag nabigyan na po kami ng kaukulang advisory, we will make the proper comment (In truth, we have not received an advisory with respect to that blacklisting issue. Once we receive such advisory, we will make the proper comment),” Garafil said.
Zubiri said the online gambling in the country was among the topics that he and Huang discussed during their meeting.
“I asked him (Huang) why it (online gambling) is being vigorously shut down by China and different countries. And he said, Mr. Senate President, in our country a lot of people have died, committed suicide, are in jail now for theft and robbery because of payments that (they) have to made to POGO operators operating in other countries, particularly in the Philippines,” Zubiri quoted the ambassador.
Zubiri said that according to Huang, Chinese President Xi Jinping “has already asked the previous (Duterte) administration to shut this (POGO industry) down because this is an illegal activity as far as we are concerned in China” but the request was supposedly ignored.
“He (Huang) told me (that) it (POGO industry) also provides criminality to the host country, as what you’ve seen in your country recently. This (is happening) right now in Cambodia, (and) the Cambodian government is trying to ban it and other countries,” Zubiri added.
The Senate President said Huang has promised to provide the Senate a list of countries that have shut down online gambling operations run by Chinese “on the request of the People’s Republic of China.”
Zubiri said Huang told him it is best to shut down POGOs instead of simply regulating them, no matter how strict, since “it is very difficult to stop online transactions.”
Aside from blacklisting the Philippines as a tourism destination, Huang also reportedly said that China has blacklisted its nationals who have been identified to be involved in the POGO industry, especially the financiers, operators, and officers.
Gatchalian said he has yet to get hold of a copy of the official statement from the Chinese Embassy in Manila placing the country in its blacklist since to his understanding during the meeting with Huang, the move has yet to be implemented.
“Let me qualify, hindi pa ini-implement ‘yan. There’s a possibility. So, we have to wait for the official pronouncement. But based on our conversation, they might restrict their tourists (Let me qualify, that is not yet implemented. There’s a possibility. So, we have to wait for the official pronouncement. But based on our conversation, they might restrict their tourists),” Gatchalian said.
He added: “Ang rinig ko kasi possible na ma-blacklist o ma restrict kasi wala pa namang official pronouncement… baka ‘yung appreciation namin iba. But definitely, ang aming pagkakaintindi magkaka-apekto ito sa turismo ng ating bansa (What I heard is that there is a possibility that we will be blacklisted or restricted because there is still no official pronouncement yet… Maybe our (Gatchalian’s and Zubiri’s) appreciation is different. But definitely, what we understand is that it will affect our tourism industry).”
Gatchalian said China discouraging its citizens to go to the Philippines will have a big effect on the country’s tourism industry.
“Because we are allowing POGOs, the Chinese government fears that the tourists going here will work in POGOs, that’s why they are discouraging them. That will affect the tourist arrivals,” Gatchalian said in an interview after the hearing.
The Chinese Embassy in Manila issued a statement Tuesday afternoon but was vague on Zubiri’s revelation.
“To further elucidate on the ‘tourist blacklist’ remarks, tourism is an important component of practical cooperation between China and the Philippines which has helped further deepen long-time friendship between the two peoples,” the embassy said.
It added: “Before the COVID-19 pandemic, close to two million Chinese nationals traveled to the Philippines in 2019, making China the second largest source of tourists. We expect more Chinese tourists to come to this country after the pandemic.”
The embassy statement confirmed, though, that “cracking down on POGO-related crimes” was among the issues discussed during between Zubiri and Huang.
During the meeting, the embassy said Huang reiterated China’s policy on and firm opposition to POGO.
“According to Chinese law and regulations, Chinese citizens gambling overseas, opening casinos to attract Chinese citizens as primary customers constitute gambling crimes,” the embassy said, adding that criminal liability can be pursued in accordance with the provisions of the Criminal Law of China.
The embassy further said that the Chinese government and law enforcement agencies have been taking tough measures to combat all forms of gambling.
It added that they are also aware that most of the recent crimes targeting Chinese nationals in the Philippines are related to the operations of POGO.
“The Chinese Embassy has been in close communication with the Philippine law enforcement agencies and stepped up cooperation on cracking down POGO-related criminal activities against Chinese citizens in the Philippines,” the embassy said, also saying that crimes induced by and associated with POGO not only harm China’s interests and China-Philippines relations, but also hurt the interests of the Philippines.
SENATE HEARING
Zubiri asked the Senate committee if allowing POGO operations is synonymous to “aiding or abetting an illegal activity in another country.”
“Is our country hosting an illegal activity in another country? That is the question we all must ponder and make a decision on. I am just sharing the message today because I think it is very relevant to many issues on many topics across many issues,” Zubiri said.
Before Zubiri disclosed the information he got from Huang, Sen. Grace Poe asked if the Philippines is in China’s blacklist due to POGO operations.
National Economic and Development Authority Undersecretary Rosemarie Edillon said: “I think the timing was also kind of unfortunate because actually in 2019 when they did this threat of a blacklist, and the year afterward, (there) is a pandemic here.”
“No list was released. We were one of those countries called out, our attention was called,” Edillon said.
After two hearings, Gatchalian said that to his “own assessment” the country does not need the POGO industry to earn revenues for the government as its social costs outweigh the economic benefits.
For one, many Chinese enter the country in the guise of being tourists but have been working in POGOs.
Another reason, he added, were the crimes committed by POGO workers against their colleagues and the low conviction rate of those who were caught, which authorities said was only at one percent. The remaining 99 percent of the suspects have sneaked their way back to China or elsewhere.
Gatchalian said POGO operators have also been mis-declaring their incomes, depriving the government of at least P1.9 billion in unpaid taxes from January to September this year.
He said the POGO industry can be replaced by the Business Processing Outsourcing industry, as the more than 23,000 Filipinos who will be displaced once the POGO industry is shut down can be absorbed by the BPOs.
He said the problem on human trafficking is also another reason why the industry should be stopped since based on the hearing, it was disclosed that as many as 100,000 Chinese coming from Myanmar have illegally entered the country to work in POGOs.
Gatchalian said the problem he sees with the closure of the POGO industry is its Chinese workers who cannot easily go back to their country for fear they will be jailed for working in the illegal online gaming.
He said he is also checking reports that some Chinese who are in the POGO industry pay as high as P1 million to corrupt officers of the Bureau of Immigration and other concerned government agencies so they can be allowed to stay in the country even if their companies have ceased to operate.
Paul Bongco, spokesman of the Association of Service Providers and POGOs (ASPAP), said based on reports reaching them, those involved in the commission of crimes were illegal POGO workers.
ASAP has as its members 16 of the 34 licensed POGO companies.
“Yung iba kasi illegal na nagta-trabaho dito, wala silang documents kaya napipilitan silang kumapit sa patalim. Ang nangyayari dahil hindi nila ma-sustain ang gastos ay natutukso sila na gumawa nang di maganda (There are those who are working illegally here, they have no documents that’s why they were forced to commit crimes so they can sustain their expenses),” Bongco said.
He assured that not a single member of their association is involved in any criminal activity.
