EDITORIAL - Finally, a POGO ban

The only question is why the order took so long. Yesterday, a highlight of the third State of the Nation Address was President Marcos’ order, effective immediately, to ban all Philippine offshore gaming operator firms. The President ordered the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. to begin winding down POGO operations for their full shutdown by yearend. Displaced Filipino workers will be assisted in finding new jobs by the Department of Labor and Employment.

The announcement drew a standing ovation at the House of Representatives, where several key members had previously expressed their opposition to a total POGO ban. PAGCOR had also opposed a total ban even as economic managers said POGOs were more trouble than they’re worth. The President said he heeded public sentiment and was aware of reports linking POGOs to criminal activities including torture, kidnapping and human trafficking.

What’s unclear is whether the POGO ban covers all offshore gaming, including what looks like its replacement that PAGCOR itself launched last year: the internet gaming licensee program. Critics have described the IGL as the same dog with a different collar, whose clients may include Chinese nationals. This will violate PAGCOR’s own rules, which prohibit the agency from allowing access to its registered websites in territories where online gaming is prohibited.

Chinese citizens, wherever they are in the world, are prohibited by Beijing from online gaming. Beijing had been asking the Philippine government to shut down POGOs because the firms were employing and catering mostly to Chinese nationals.

Following the President’s order, Congress can work on reforms whose need cropped up in the course of the POGO controversy. One is to separate PAGCOR’s dual roles as gaming operator and regulator. Regulatory failure allowed the POGOs to become criminal hubs. Another is to tighten rules on late birth registration, which have not only allowed foreigners to work illegally in the Philippines, but apparently even to run for elective office.

Suspended Mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac, who has yet to surface amid an arrest warrant issued by the Senate, maintains she is a Philippine citizen. Senators say she is a Chinese citizen who acquired a Philippine birth certificate through fraudulent means. The National Bureau of Investigation has uncovered 1,200 cases of fake Philippine birth certificates issued mostly to Chinese nationals by the civil registrar of one town alone, Santa Cruz in Davao del Sur.

Civil registrars are not under local governments, but their mother agency, the Philippine Statistics Authority, lacks the resources to closely monitor their activities. This is another area calling for reforms. The ban on POGOs is a welcome development, but many other measures are needed to stop the illegal activities associated with gaming.