The raid of a POGO operation has spurred a new wave of critiques from Filipino lawmakers. As President Rodrigo Duterte’s office steps aside to allow the Bureau of Immigration to decide what to do with 44 Chinese POGO workers, new calls for investigation, and a potential ban on all POGO operations, have arisen.
As we’ve previously reported, an April 24 raid of a house in Parañaque City nabbed 44 Chinese nationals, as well as 9 Filipinos, who were allegedly running an illegal POGO out of a home. It’s unclear if the operation was ever licensed by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, but it was certainly operating in defiance of Enhanced Community Quarantine (ECQ) laws, meant to protect against COVID-19.
The President’s office has declared the fate of the 44 Chinese nationals will rest entirely with the Bureau of Immigration. “That will be addressed by the (Bureau of) Immigration and Deportation… I know POGO operations are prohibited and if there reasons to do so, I’m sure the (immigration bureau) will make the right decision,” presidential spokesman Harry Roque said in a Monday press briefing.
Congressman Carlos Zarate believes this may not be the only undercover POGO operation in defiance of ECQ laws. “With this bulk of evidence, it’s either this group is part of a criminal syndicate in China or part of covert operations to subvert our laws and sovereignty,” Zarate said.
“An investigation is in order because these incidents only show that, despite the ring pandemic, these POGOs are operating with impunity because apparently they are being protected by unscrupulous and corrupt officials,” he added.
In the same briefing, Roque commented that Duterte has made no decision on allowing POGOs to resume operations, but that the revenues they bring to the government’s coffers would help a lot. “It’s simple mathematics,” he said. “While there is no decision yet, we have a lot of needs. It’s clear that P397 billion has been allotted for COVID-19. We have spent P352 billion… the president cannot perform magic to generate money for our expenses. There has to be a source.”
Senator Risa Hontiveros disagrees with that assessment. “It’s ‘pay up’ (time) and ‘time’s up’ for POGO,” she said in a Tuesday statement, recommending an end to all POGO operations in the country.
Senate Resolution No. 368 expresses “the sense of the Senate to disallow the resumption of POGO operations in the country taking into consideration the financial, social, and the human costs of POGO operations and to direct the P50 billion unpaid taxes of POGOs to fund the government’ response to COVID-19.”
Hontiveros believes the priority should be getting Filipinos back to work. She inferred that if the mostly Chinese operated POGOs in Metro Manila were allowed to return back to work, COVID-19 would begin to spread more rapidly. “If they continue to operate, there would be an inevitable second wave of COVID-19 transmission that our public health system would not be able to handle,” she said.
Regardless of what Hontiveros thinks resuming licensed POGO operations would do, her solution makes no sense. Legitimate operators have worked hard to get a license, maintain a respectable relationship with the government and the public, and wouldn’t set up shop in a small home with armed guards patrolling outside, as was the case in Parañaque City. If she gets her way, and all POGOs were declared illegal, black market operations would likely continue.
Maybe it’s not yet time for PAGCOR to allow POGOs to resume their work, but shutting down the whole industry would be akin to cutting off the nose to spite the face.
