Operator News

Philippines – Philippine Senators want to call time on Philippines Offshore Gaming Operators

By Phil - 27 March 2023

A high-profile politician in the Philippines has called on the country’s President to end the Philippines Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) ‘experiment’ claiming it has opened the door to new forms of crime.

The chair of Philippines Senate’s Committee on Ways and Means Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said: “POGOs have created new avenues for crime and corruption, damaging our country’s reputation among diplomatic allies, foreign investors, potential tourists, and even our own countrymen. The data and evidence on hand all point to the same conclusion: Enough is enough. It is time to ban offshore gaming operations in the Philippines, once and for all.”

“Using the currency and employment data as proxies, we can safely assume that Chinese nationals are the most prolific POGO consumers,” he added. “This is problematic because gambling is illegal in China … in essence, Chinese nationals are using offshore gaming operations based in the Philippines as a loophole to circumvent Chinese criminal law.”

“The economic managers are saying that POGOs are not good for the country’s image. And we will not have peace of mind while they are still here,” he added. “The fear of Filipinos getting kidnapped will linger while they are still operating. We should not clutch at at the knife’s edge because there are other businesses that will not affect our country’s peace and order. We are the only country in the world hosting Pogo. If this is really a good business, then all countries should be fighting to entice them. I’m confident that the president will be supportive of our recommendation.”

Another Senator Sonny Angara has already come out in agreement. “We respect the work and findings of the committees who have diligently done their work investigating this matter and there is evidence that their presence has had some negative effects, especially in the peace and order domain. However, I don’t believe three months is adequate time and notice to wrap up operations, especially for those who have made substantial investments. A longer period would be more reasonable/justified given it was also the government which invited them to invest in the first place.”

Another, Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri has asked the Philippine National Police (PNP) to investigate links between the abduction and murder of a Chinese-Filipino businessman to POGOs

Mr. Zubiri said: “It is not impossible that these suspects are connected to the gangs involved in the Pogo industry. The horrific torture-slay of Mr. Uy is certainly not far from accounts of violence that have transpired in the Pogo industry, and so I urge the PNP to look into this possibility. It has long been our fear that the violence perpetrated by foreign gangs on [Pogos] will eventually graduate to violence against our own citizens, and from victims of human trafficking to Mr. Uy, these fears have very much become our alarming reality,” Zubiri said.