No hesitation in the urge to ban POGOs

LAST week, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (Paocc) and the Metro Manila Police Anti-Cybercrime Group (ACG) clashed over a raid on a supposed Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hub in Manila, which the ACG had carried out.

De Paocc said the raid was flawed because all 85 foreigners detained were eventually released without charge. The ACG explained that it could not detain them because it could be accused of arbitrary detention.

Such bickering only adds a dissonant note to the efforts to dismantle POGOs, which President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. declared during his State of the Nation address last July.

There are still 211 illegal POGOs that have apparently gone underground. And law enforcement agencies appear to be operating without coordinating with each other in tracking them down.

The president wants all POGOs shut down by the end of the year, saying they “have ventured into illegal areas furthest from gaming, such as financial fraud, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture and murder.”

The abuses were exposed in a series of congressional investigations that showed how well-entrenched and influential the POGOs had become since establishing themselves in the country in 2016.

Online gambling operators thrived in China until Beijing decided to crack down on them for preying mainly on Chinese citizens.

Looking for a new host, the Chinese operators were welcomed to the Philippines, where the government of newly elected President Rodrigo Duterte was seeking funding for its ambitious infrastructure program.

One of the incentives POGOs enjoyed was bringing in their own workers, who were mainly Chinese. At one point, 300,000 Chinese were working for POGOs, along with recruits from Vietnam, Malaysia and other Southeast Asian countries.

For a time, the POGOs met their billing. In 2020, operators paid P7.2 billion in taxes, more than double what they paid the year before.

Things changed when the Covid pandemic dealt a major blow to the economy. One of the sectors that was hit hard was online gaming.

POGOs that were expected to generate P32 billion in taxes generated only about a third of that. The Bureau of Internal Revenue soon came knocking.

POGOs have also been linked to a wide range of criminal activities, from kidnapping and prostitution to money laundering, human trafficking and crypto scams.

But even more sinister are the revelations that gambling operators have infiltrated the government’s political infrastructure. Alice Guo’s deep involvement when she was mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, with the POGO hub in her city is a testament to this. Prominent political personalities such as former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque have also been asked to explain their association with POGOs during congressional hearings.

The call for the closure of gambling operators became louder. Senators Grace Poe and Risa Hontiveros emphasized that the social costs of maintaining POGOs were “too high.” Then-Finance Minister Benjamin Diokno assured the public that the government would be able to address the financial problems once the POGOs leave.

The ban has even received rare praise from China. “POGO breeds serious crimes and seriously undermines the interests of both the Filipino and Chinese people,” the Chinese embassy said. “China is willing to continue its strong law enforcement cooperation with the Philippines and better protect the security and welfare of the two peoples.”

POGO defenders offered stiff resistance. Senator Robinhood Padilla advocated giving operators at least two years to phase out. Albay Rep. Joey Salceda reiterated his argument that banning POGOs is like “burning down the whole house to put out the rats.”

The Philippine Amusements and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) emphasized that billions in revenue would be lost if POGOs were banned.

In a desperate attempt, Pagcor has reclassified POGOs as Internet Gaming Licensees, or IGLs, to avoid the death penalty. That didn’t work, and the IGLs also got the axe.

The president has put his foot down: POGOs must go. If the December deadline is to be met, the agencies going after the remaining operators must get their act together. The hierarchy must be clear and respected.