Written in the stars

Whether or not the report that the Philippines will be blacklisted by China as a tourist destination for maintaining offshore gaming operations or POGOs is true, we should weigh the pros and cons.

The government earns billions of pesos in revenues from legitimate POGOs, but only a pittance from the illegitimate ones.

Thousands of employees of illegitimate POGO outlets are now up for deportation.

Hundreds of thousands of people from Mainland China want to come to the Philippines for our world-renowned tourist attractions. This much I was told when I was special envoy to China during the previous administration.

If not for the pandemic, Chinese tourists would have come here en masse and brought in tens of millions of dollars every month. Like Japanese tourists, those from China are known to be big spenders.

Chinese tourists have enriched many countries in Europe and our neighboring countries because of their profligate spending. Money is coming out of the ears of rich and middle-class Mainland Chinese because of their country’s super booming economy.

The owner of a huge travel and tour agency in Beijing told me he planned to ask the government to set up Philippine embassy extension offices in different cities in China that would issue travel visas. He would fund the construction of the extension offices.

The tour agency owner’s plans had to be shelved because of the pandemic.

Right now, Chinese citizens applying for visas have to go to the Philippine embassy in Beijing or our consulate in Shanghai.

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The China embassy in Manila denied issuing a statement that it would blacklist the Philippines as a tourist destination if POGOs continued to operate.

Most POGO clients are Mainland Chinese.

Let’s be objective: Can we blame China if it bans the Philippines as a tourist destination for its citizens?

China forbids its citizens from visiting Cambodia as tourists because of online gambling operations patronized by Mainland Chinese.

There have been many cases of Chinese citizens committing suicide or incurring huge debts after losing heavily in online gambling.

If we were in China’s place, wouldn’t we do the same thing?

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I doff my hat to broadcasters Ed Lingao and Lourd de Veyra, both from the TV5 network, for ignoring threats to their safety that were published online from a certain Seth Corteza, most probably a fictitious name.

“Corteza” said Lingao and De Veyra would be the next targets of assassination after Percival Mabasa.

Mabasa, a.k.a. Percy Lapid, was a hard-hitting radio commentator who apparently stepped on many toes.

“Corteza” tweeted, “What I know is there are two more persons included in the contract that must be killed but I don’t know the exact date or place. They are Ed Lingao and Lourd of TV5.”

“The threat was clearly made with malice and intent to harass journalists. What is not clear is whether the person who made the tweet is capable of posing a physical threat. Nevertheless, it is important to emphasize that people like that are wasting their time. Matagal na kaming takot, pero nandito pa kami (We’ve been scared for the longest time, but we’re still here),” said Lingao in a statement released on social media.

De Veyra, known for his sharp wisecracks, said: “I am more offended by the fact that I was not even given the privilege of a surname in the tweet. For the ability to select the precise moment for maximum effect, considering that nowadays the angel of death wears a motorcycle helmet, I give him a thumbs-up. His tastes in cinema, however, is s***.” De Veyra’s last line refers to how “Seth Corteza” is the title of an obscure movie starring Ace Vergel.

Lingao and De Veyra’s fatalistic views are praiseworthy.

Journalists put their lives on the line. About 200 of our colleagues have made the supreme sacrifice since Cory Aquino took the reins of power in 1986.

There were 17 media persons who were killed in the line of duty (presumably, that is) during Cory’s time; 15 under Fidel Ramos’ watch; Joseph Estrada’s, 5; Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo’s, 103 and in the time of Benigno “Noynoy” Aquino III, 32.

The worst was during the administration of Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo, with 103 journalists killed.

Our style of reporting or commentary should not be cramped because of threats to our lives and the assassins who killed our colleagues remain mostly unidentified.

Everybody dies, anyway, with many luckier than others for going Home ahead.

I remember a Visayan saying in pidgin English that goes, “Die today, die tomorrow, same die.”

If you die today or tomorrow, you die just the same.

The end of our lives is written in the stars.