Gambling capital

The bombshell revelation of Alejandro “Al” Tengco, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCor), may be likened to an improvised explosive device (IED) he triggered while he was still holding on to it. In a press statement he issued over the weekend, Tengco accused a certain former Cabinet official as allegedly “trying to intercede for POGOs,” or the Philippine Online Gaming Operators. 

Tengco did not identify if this ex-Cabinet man is an appointee of President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr., or appointed by former President Rodrigo Duterte. Tengco blamed this unnamed ex-Cabinet official for the many illegal POGOs, eight of which were so far discovered and dismantled by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC). 

Tengco vowed to unmask this ex-Cabinet man and other personalities allegedly “lobbying” for POGO license before the proper investigating body. But whoever these lobbyists are, it behooves Tengco to inform or complain, and ask the OP or the PAOCC to immediately check or look into. After all, both the PAOCC and PAGCor are directly under the Office of the President (OP).

Or, he should have brought this out at the ongoing joint Senate public hearing. From their raids one after the other of the PAOCC, these illegal POGO hubs were found in Clark Freeport in Pampanga and in Bamban, Tarlac last March this year.

The Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality chaired by Sen. Risa Hontiveros and the Senate committee on ways and means headed by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian started the public hearings way back May 22 this year. Gatchalian filed three of the five Senate Resolutions that sought this inquiry in aid of legislation on these reported illegal POGO hubs.

But why did the PAGCor chairman and CEO wait this long before he came out with this revelation?

As of last estimates by PAOCC executive director retired Police Gen. Gilbert Cruz, there are about close to 300 illegal POGOs clandestinely running in various parts of the country. Todate, the eight illegal POGOs raided by inter-agency law enforcement teams have rounded up hundreds of foreign nationals, mostly Chinese and other Mandarin-speaking Malaysians and Vietnamese without valid working permits and visas here. Many of them were either victims or part of the human trafficking, money-laundering, online scams and other criminal activities.

Much worse is the arrest of foreign nationals who turned out to be wanted fugitives from their respective homelands. So far, our own government – through the PAOCC-– spent for the plane fares for these deported illegal POGO workers, the bulk of whom were flown back to China where gambling is illegal.

Aside from POGOs, PAGCor also regulates, operates authorizes and licenses other “games of chance,” namely: Traditional Bingo Games as well as Electronic Bingo (E-Bingo) Games; Onsite Casino Games as well as Electronic Casino (E-Casino) Games; E-Billiards, and other “Specialty Games.” 

Under its Congress-approved Charter, PAGCor’s corporate goal is “to generate revenues for the Philippine government’s socio-civic and national development programs; and help promote the Philippine tourism.” In its latest report, PAGCor turns over P1 billion per month to the President’s Social Funds to finance pet projects of the OP. According to PBBM, his newly created financial aid program to El Niño-affected areas called as the Presidential Assistance to Farmers, Fishermen and Families (PAFFF) is sourced from his OP funds.       

The state-owned gaming firm was created during the martial law years by virtue of Presidential Decree (PD) 1067-A issued by the namesake father of PBBM, the late President Marcos Sr. “in response to calls for the Philippine government to put a stop to the growing proliferation of illegal casino operations in various parts of the country.” The law creating PAGCOR was later amended by PD 1869, otherwise known as the PAGCor Charter.

In June 2007, Republic Act (RA) No. 9487 was passed in Congress. This extended the corporate life of PAGCor by 25 years and renewable for another 25 years. The same law mandated PAGCor to obtain consent of the local government unit (LGU) authority that has territorial jurisdiction over the area chosen as site for any of PAGCOR operations; and, allowed PAGCor to enter into agreements, including joint venture, with any person, firm, association or corporation. 

According to its website corporate profile, PAGCor operates nine casino branches in major cities in Luzon, Visayas and Mindanao collectively called as “Casino Filipino.” It also operates 34 satellite casinos in major cities across the country “strategically located in areas that are popular tourist destinations.”

In the same press statement, Tengco cited PAGCor has pruned down to 43 out of 298 its POGO licensees after the “cleansing process” he proudly took credit for. “What we need to question, in the first place, was how those 298 POGO licensees were able to secure their licenses in the past because clearly, during our cleansing process, we found most of them to be ineligible and outright suspicious,” Tengco pointed out.

Incidentally, PAGCor has rebranded POGO now called as internet gaming licensees (IGLs) due to the bad publicity generated by POGO-related kidnapping, killings and other criminal cases.       

Aside from PAGCor, the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) operates lotto games and small-town lottery (STL) every day in various LGUs all over the country. The STL was supposed to solve the problem of illegal “jueteng,” another numbers game popular to Filipinos that runs underground. And now, there are illegal STLs.

Calls to ban POGOs were raised on fears that huge pay-offs can buy them politicians they can install in office. However, these illegal POGOs may also end up operating underground. This we have seen in the e-sabong that illegally continues to operate despite the order in May 2022 to PAGCor by then President Duterte to terminate it. When PBBM took office, he similarly ordered in December 2022 the continued suspension of e-sabong. In fact, arrests of illegal e-sabong bettors, mostly in Metro Manila, and many of these e-sabong arenas in Quezon City are still being reported. 

Has the Philippines become the gambling capital in this part of the world?

But why did the PAGCor chairman and CEO wait this long before he came out with this revelation?