POGOs: The enemies within

The revelations in the Senate investigations of Alice Guo and the subsequent developments are alarming and definitely a cause for concern for the government, politicians, social order, the people and the country. After the raid in the humungous building complex in Bamban, Tarlac, which yielded forcibly-detained illegal foreign workers and Filipinos, and the various criminal activities like gambling, scamming, money laundering, and extortion, another similar complex was raided in Porac, Pampanga, doing the same activities with 200 workers. The Philippine Police authorities/PAOCC averred that there must be some 100 other illegal POGO hubs in the country, on top of the 70 plus POGOs licensed by the PAGCOR.

The immediate impact of the proliferation of the POGOs in the Philippines in the past 10 years was/is economic and financial, in terms of the amount of illegal funds that came into the country, which is the justification of the Duterte government in allowing the POGOs to thrive in the Philippines, even with the violations of the licensed POGOs, and keeping a blind eye on the illegal POGOs. These festering problems have now grown large enough and unnerving to the government authorities that could reach a boiling point to destabilize the government and society.

Due to the enormous financial resources of the POGOs and the silent support of the Chinese government, the influence of the POGOs on the government agencies and the bureaucracy has been increasing. They have gotten around PAGCOR with more unlicensed than licensed POGOs, they are able to get around the AMLA regulations on large fund transfers, they are able to get building and operating permits from national and local governments, and even approval for their utilities and communication applications fast without documentary compliance. In the recent raid by PAOCC on the Pampanga POGO, the search warrant issued by the Malabon RTC was even withdrawn the following day. There is even a rumor that the POGO was tipped off of the impending raid, so that many of the foreign/Chinese operators were able to escape and leave the country. There is so much money for influence and corruption that these POGOs are buying the influence of the lowliest clerk in the local government up to the highest government officials that they can buy.

The obvious implications of these events and developments is the greater corruption that is plaguing our country, which we are trying to minimize to improve governance and direct more funds to economic development. In the case of the POGOs, we are getting pittance from their taxes/investments, and more money is going to private pockets tax-free, while enjoying the facilities and services of the government. Noticeable is the number of POGO supporters in the lower levels of the government, while there is silence among the higher officials that benefitted from POGO money. For the lower income people, POGO money is a welcome addition to their low pay and justifiable knowing their bosses are getting bigger amounts. For the higher officials, these are additional funds for their campaign and their luxuries.

Considering the levels economic development of the Philippines and the skewed wealth/income distribution, Filipinos have a higher vulnerability to corruption. This is the reason these Chinese POGOs are located all in Thailand, Myanmar, Cambodia, and the Philippines, together with their perception on the corruptibility of government officials. That the Philippines is a predominantly Catholic country did not matter to the POGOs but should matter to us. The long-term implications of the continued POGOs presence in the Philippines is the further deterioration of the Filipinos moral/ethical values which are vital for a functioning democratic government. The insidious way to bring down a country is to destroy the people’s sense of justice, equality, and morality, and the POGOs are doing these with impunity. If we overlap/combine this POGO issue with the Philippines geo-political conflict with China in the West Philippine Sea, we can see the obvious determined undermining of our society and country.

The investigation of Senators Hontiveros and Gatchalian and the actions of PAOCC and other cooperating agencies are commendable and should be encouraged and pursued to include the Cavite Island POGO complex and others. The government should do these fast and completely before we descend into the condition of Haiti where the criminal gangs/syndicates took over the government and brought the country into lawlessness.