COME July 10, the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality will hold another inquiry into the operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), both legal and illegal.
Focus of the next inquiry is the alleged involvement of a former Cabinet official in the issuance of licenses to POGOs which are suspected by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) as being used in illegal activities.
Committee chairperson Sen. Risa Hontiveros said Pagcor chairman and chief executive officer Alejandro Tengco has been invited to shed light on his recent statement that the former Cabinet official “tried to facilitate the grant of gaming licenses to some illegal POGOs that have been raided.”
“We are calling a next hearing and I hope the Pagcor chief deems it the right forum to reveal what he knows. Whoever the ex-Cabinet official turns out to be, the fact remains: POGOs are being used as a legal cover for scam hubs,” Hontiveros said in a statement.
‘Why is the country suffering from this scourge called POGO when all it takes is a firm directive from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to ban this gambling business…’
Interestingly, the officials most vocal and persistent in taking up the issue of POGOs are the senators. Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said Chairman Tengco must reveal all information and personalities involved in the operations of illegal POGOs. He cannot escape this responsibility since the state gaming firm is the sole regulator of these business entities.
Senate President Francis Escudero said the erring official or former official should be unmasked in the next Senate hearing if he violated the law so that not all former “high ranking Cabinet officials will be looked upon with suspicion.”
Senate minority leader Aquilino Pimentel III echoed a similar call on Pagcor’s revelation. He lamented “they have infiltrated not only the business and gaming industries but also our government, allegedly with local and even high-ranking officials serving as their protectors.”
Pointing a finger at a certain official who tried to intercede in behalf of illegal POGOs may even be construed as a red herring alibi that might divert the Hontiveros hearings to probing less serious and personality-focused issues.
Tengco’s appearance at the Senate investigation is necessary because he has to explain why licensed POGOs almost always backslide to illegal activities, and why is it that government agencies and officials — Pagcor, the PNP Criminal Investigation Group, the municipal, provincial and regional police offices, mayors and town councilors, and provincial governors and board members, not to mention the lowly barangays — all seem to be beholden to these foreigners.
Hontiveros is right in pointing out that previous hearings have validated the truth that criminal activities are happening inside tightly-guarded POGO compounds such as in Porac, Pampanga and Bamban, Tarlac, and our law-enforcement agencies are both clueless and powerless in coping with the situation.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers warned that “POGOs, whether licensed, legitimate or illegal, are nothing but fronts for criminal activities. Ranging from money laundering, drug trafficking, human trafficking, protecting criminal syndicates engaged in murders, kidnapping, torture, rape and up to engaging in POGO politics, name it and surely it is all there. POGO is the one-stop shop for criminal activities.”
Why is the country suffering from this scourge called POGO when all it takes is a firm directive from President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to ban this gambling business, just like the phaseout order given by former President Rodrigo Duterte against “E-sabong.”
