As the economic importance of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) increasingly comes to light, government officials in the Philippines are finding it harder to pressure the industry, and are increasingly finding ways to support it. September 19 brings news from an important lawmaker pointing to the significance of the industry, as well as a new initiative from the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE).
The Manila Bulletin reports Representative Joey Sarte Salceda, who also holds the position of senior vice chairman of the House Committee on Appropriations, revealed that POGO “returns reach one percent” of the gross domestic products (GNP) for the entire country.
Furthermore, he corrected a notion that many have gathered by recent reports. While POGOs may be responsible for hiring many foreign workers, they also employ more Filipinos than business processing outsourcing (BPO) companies, another huge sector of the economy.
With all of that in mind, Salceda cationed that a POGO investigation shouldn’t take any knee jerk reactions, for fear of how many Filipinos it may hurt. For that reason, he insisted on the sectors reason to exist in the country. “POGO is legal in the Philippines. China can’t dictate on another sovereign country,” Salceda said.
That’s a remarkably similar position to President Rodrigo Duterte, who recently gave his blessing for POGOs to continue running, despite local and foreign opposition.
Perhaps with that economic importance in mind, DOLE has recently rolled out a new streamlined “one stop shop” for all the paper work needs of foreign employees. The Business Mirror reports the government bureau combined personnel from the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Immigration (BI) and Dole in one location to make the process of getting everything legit easier.
“The one stop shop is intended to ensure that foreign workers will obtain alien employment permit (AEP) before they can work here in the Philippines and that they will also pay their taxes,” Labor Secretary Silvestre H. Bello III said. With everything in one spot, employees will be able to get their tax identification number, VISA and work permit all at once.
That doesn’t completely solve the problem, unfortunately. Thousands of workers don’t yet have the correct visa and papers for the work they are doing, and a sudden crunch of applications could overload the system. “While we still have logistical challenge in the surge of applications, DOLE and its Regional Offices are doing their best to serve our clients promptly,” said Bureau of Local Employment director Dominique R. Tutay.
If the new location works as intended though, more may open up soon in other locations, Bello offered.
