POGOs might have to go away-FMJ
By Nidz Godino
“If we cannot regulate (POGOs), then we better stop them. ..there are now abductions and killings,” Senator Imee Marcos said “what’s happening is already sordid and gruesome…they’ve been here for years, and obviously, we could not regulate them.” This was consistent with opinion on finance secretary Benjamin Diokno, who said POGOs in the Philippines had social cost.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. is looking into possibility of declaring Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) illegal, his lawmaker sister confirmed in a radio interview.
“It has reputational risk, because why are they going to the Philippines…discontinue na sa China, discontinue ng Cambodia …why are they going to the Philippines?” the finance chief said “maybe because we are loose, we’re not strict on our rules, so meron tayong reputational risk.”
Marcos stressed “embarrassing before international community that all these are happening even if they involve Chinese nationals in our country.”
In the days between Diokno’s statement and Marcos’ interview , POGO facility Lucky South 99 Outsourcing Inc. in Pampanga was shut down by police, where 43 Chinese nationals were rescued for being forced to work there.
Data from Philippine National Police (PNP) also showed that 15 out of 29 kidnapping cases this year alone were related to POGOs.
The finance secretary also explained revenues collected from POGOs have continuously plummeted over past years. Revenues from POGOs were at its highest in 2020 at P7.2 billion, and shrunk to P3.9 billion in 2021. In the present day, only P3 billion has been collected from POGOs despite having projected income worth P32 billion.
Imee Marcos, meanwhile, cited different figures, saying projected POGO revenues were supposedly around P50 billion, but a chunk of the revenues go to corruption.
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