Saying POGOs have become 'beyond regulation,' Drilon wants licenses revoked
MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon on Sunday said licenses issued by the Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp. to Philippine Offshore Gambling Operators should be revoked because the government has failed to regulate them properly.
Presidential spokesperson Salvador Panelo on the same day said that President Rordigo Duterte has no intention of shutting down the POGOs because of the economic benefits they supposedly bring to Philippine shores.
Duterte had previously expressed reluctance to place any restrictons on the gaming operators, citing the additional funding that the administration could funnel into other government initiatives.
But POGOs have figured in a number of controversies in recent months, ranging from links to sex trafficking, immigration bribery, identity theft, money laundering, kidnapping and prostitution.
'Beyond regulation'
"Ang conclusion, itong POGO ay beyond regulation. Mukhang hindi na kayang i-regulate. Unang-una, may 60 licensed POGOs, sino itong licensees? Other than the 60, mayroon silang sub-licensing," Drilon said in an interview on dzBB’s "Balita sa Senado".
(This POGO industry us beyond regulation. It seems we can no longer regulate them. In the first place, there are 60 licensed POGOs. Who are the licensees? Other than the 60, there is also sub-licensing.)
"Hindi kailangan ang batas. Walang batas authorizing POGOs. Iyan ay nabuo dahil sa license na ibinibigay ng Pacgor. Ang remedy, hindi batas kung hindi tanggalin ang license."
(There is no need for a law. There is no law authorizing POGOs. That is allowed because of the licenses issued by Pagcor. The remedy is not a new law but for Pagcor to revoke the licenses)
These lapses on the part of the POGOs have extended as early as their inception in the country, but Malacañang has time and again asserted the good they bring to the country.
Drilon on Sunday also said that sub-licensing has made the industry far too difficult to regulate, as the POGOs licensed under Pagcor have some 200 service providers and sub-licensees resulting in thousands of undocumented workers in a setup that has made the law easier to sidestep.
"Sino po ba itong 60 licensees na ito? Mayroong listahan pero hindi alam kung sino yung nasa likod ng mga ito. Yung iba corporation. Limited eh. Wala akong nakitang pangalan ng tao," he said.
(Who are these 60? There is a list but you cannot tell who are behind them. The others are corporations. I don't see the names of the people)
Drilon added that a bulk of the income supposedly generated by the presence of POGOs came from registration fees rather than income tax.
Granted, in earlier market intelligence reports, property consulting firm Colliers admitted that the online operations were a "major driver" of the property sector in the Philippines.
“He will not suspend it nor will he stop it,” Panelo said in an interview on Radyo Inquirer.
“Ang sabi niya sakin kahapon, maganda yung report ni [Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.] head, maganda daw ang report sakanya sa okay kailangan talaga natin ng pondo galing diyan," Panelo added.
'Duterte may temporarily halt'
Sunday's pronouncements came in direct contradiction to early Palace claims that Duterte was open to temporarily stopping the POGOs, especially amid allegations of corruption circling the gaming operators.
“It’s up to the president, depending on how extensive,” Panelo said then, just three days before.
“If you are talking of options, everything is open on the table. It depends solely on the President. The President has the discretion to do anything within the law."
READ: ‘Duterte may suspend POGO operations’
But on Sunday's interview, the presidential mouthpiece instead highlighted the many other projects that POGOs could fund.
"Marami tayong projects na kailangan natin ng pondo. For instance, the salary of the nurses, teachers, madami. Meron na naman tayong problema sa coronavirus. Puwede ring pagkunan natin," he said.
(We have a lot of projects that we need funds for. We also have the problem of the coronavirus. We can get funds for that too.)
Duterte's willingness to allow the operations to continue comes despite Beijing's appeals for the chief executive to ban them.
“I decide we need it. Many will lose livelihood. It’s government-controlled,” he was quoted as saying, although he remained adamant that these hubs still pay the appropriate taxes.
In a separate report, Colliers also disclosed that POGOs now occupy some one million square meters of office space in Metro Manila. Key hubs including Clark, Cavite and Laguna have started to accommodate gaming operations as well.
Is it worth it?
Over the past few months, lawmakers and academics alike have been asking if the perceived returns were worth the clear costs brought on by POGOs.
"At what cost ito? It shouldn't ever be at the cost of any Filipino woman," Sen. Risa Hontiveros said at an earlier hearing.
At Thursday's Senate hearing, Drilon said, "Since the POGO came in our shores, all these things suddenly happened. I'm disappointed with PAGCOR's statement that they are in favor of keeping POGOs here all because of the income."
“It’s not worth what we see as (its) adverse effects on our society," he added.
Sen. Joel Villanueva echoed this sentiment as early as last year, saying that the benefits of POGOs in the country were ultimately outweighed by the rise in kidnapping incidents involving Chinese nationals and the "social ills" they brought to the country.
Think tank Ibon Foundation in a January report also called into question whether or not these benefits were actually as substantial as they seemed, saying that they would still prove to hamper the country's economic progress in the long term due to its reliance on yet another foreign entity.
According to Ibon, of the 87,054 POGO employees reported by PAGCOR, 71.5% are Chinese while a measly 16.6% are Filipinos.
Drilon reiterated this, saying, "Hindi ito nagbibigay ng trabaho sa mga Filipino. Maliban siguro sa mga restaurants na kinakainan nila, pero that’s negligible. Ang sabi nga ng AMLC, less than one-third of one percent ang benepisyo sa teknolohiya."
RELATED: Villanueva: Kidnapping incidents cancel out benefits from POGOs
But Panelo clearly did not share their thinking. “Lahat yan pwede kasi supposedly nga yung pera na nakukuha natin from whatever sources e para sa gobyerno yon, the government can use that in any undertaking and activity of the government,” he said.
For his part, Drilon said: "Sa akin simple lang ang solution: alisin mo yung lisensya ng mga iyan. Bawal iyan sa China. Inaamin ng Pagcor, P8 billion daw ang kinita. Kapalit ng P8 billion, patayan, kidnapping? Talagang balewala yung P8 billion kumpara mo sa social cost of having POGOs here."
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