Pogo ban just first step

Now the real test of political will begins.

After the initial jubilation over President Marcos’ announcement of a total ban on Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) during his State of the Nation Address on Monday, comes the hard work of dismantling these long-entrenched gaming hubs.

Citing the Pogos’ link into such crimes as “financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, and even murder,” Mr. Marcos declared that “effective today, all Pogos are banned.”

The ban comes after consecutive raids on Pogo estates yielded Chinese military uniforms, firearms, and equipment used for torture, love scams, and other crimes. Some 800 Filipinos and mostly undocumented foreign nationals were also rescued from the raided Bamban, Tarlac hub, and about 160 individuals more from the Porac, Pampanga site.

The pressure mounted when ongoing Senate hearings exposed other anomalies—from fake government documents being bought by foreign nationals to quickly obtain Filipino citizenship, to late birth registrations which drew suspicion that suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo may actually be a Chinese spy. According to the National Bureau of Investigation, it 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.

Unspeakable social ills

Economic managers have been as vocal against Pogos, with the Department of Finance saying that this sector was costing the Philippines some P99.5 billion a year.

Ironically, while Chinese-operated Pogos flourished under the Duterte administration as it cozied up to China amid conflicting territorial claims over the West Philippine Sea, Beijing last month urged the Philippines to ban online gaming to support China’s own crackdown on cross-border gambling. Pogos cater to gamers in China where gambling is illegal.

Commending the President for his “resolute pronouncement,” Sen. Risa Hontiveros addressed the victims, survivors, whistleblowers, and government agencies that cooperated in the Senate hearings: “We owe you this victory,” she said. The chair of the Senate committee on women and children that spearheaded the probe into the “innumerable and unspeakable social ills” of Pogos said the Senate hearings will continue despite the ban. And rightly so, if only to root out the syndicates that seem to have influenced government agencies including the court system, according to Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who has been as relentless in pursuing Pogo-related crimes and anomalies.

Definitely a laudable and long overdue move, the ban on Pogos however surfaced fears about its effects on the 42,000 Filipinos directly employed in this gaming sector.

Upskilling and skills training

Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chief Alejandro Tengco said the agency was committed to seeing through the President’s directive, which also ordered the Department of Labor and Employment to help the displaced workers find new jobs.

The Pagcor chief also stressed that the ban will cover all internet gaming licensees (IGLs), squashing fears that this new label for Pogos that he had announced during a global gambling summit in October 2023, could become a possible loophole to continue this now illegal sector.

Pagcor’s vehement denial of its culpability in granting licenses to the raided Pogos should prompt Congress to introduced laws that will separate the agency’s role as gaming operator and regulator, since its failure to regulate Pogos has abetted their criminal activities. Tengco was quoted as saying that 250 to 300 offshore gambling firms are operating in the Philippines without a license, around six times more than the 46 licensed IGLs.

Criminal organizations

Meanwhile, the Philippine Statistics Agency should tighten its rules on the issuance of birth certificates and late birth registrations, while the records of civil registrars in remote areas should be constantly monitored as they may be vulnerable to enticements from moneyed foreigners seeking Filipino citizenship. The real test of the President’s order lies in how agencies involved in the Pogo industry can totally uproot the tentacles of this pernicious industry before they can burrow into legitimate sectors like business process outsourcing. A public and very visible implementation of Mr. Marcos’ directive should be apparent to show how serious the government is in slaying this monster. The sight of undocumented foreign Pogo workers being deported en masse, Pogo hubs shuttered permanently, and suspected criminal elements prosecuted for their role in the mess should inspire confidence in the law as well.

The Pogo ban is just the first step; it should be sustained by the public’s vigilance to report irregularities and corruption in government offices that have allowed foreigners and syndicates to turn legitimate industries into criminal organizations.