Win Gatchalian confident Executive department will be convinced to ban POGO

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday expressed confidence that the Executive department will be convinced to ban Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) completely.

Gatchalian said among the reasons that will convince the President to ban POGOs are the manifesto of business groups to ban POGOs, negative effects on the country's tourism and investors, and rising number of crimes.

“Tingin ko, number one, all of the business groups naglabas na ng manifesto to ban POGOs, the major ones, yung malalaki, the DOF and NEDA already said wala tayong pakinabang diyan. Negatibo pa sa atin dahil yung mga turista and investors mamumuhunan dito sa ating bansa nate-turn off,” he said at a press conference.

(I think, number one, all of the business groups have issued a manifesto to ban POGOs, the major ones, the DOF and NEDA already said we have no benefit and it will provide a negative impact for our tourists and investors investing here in our country.)

“Pangatlo, yung crime hindi tumitigil, hindi lang narereport sa iba yung media pero ang nagcommunicate noon sa amin National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) through a letter stating may illegal detention pang nangyayari so by these three accounts tingin ko makukumbinsi ang Executive [department] na dapat ban na talaga,” he added.

(Third, the crime does not stop, only a few were reported to the media, but the NBI communicated to us through a letter stating that illegal detention is still happening, so by these three accounts, I think the Executive [department] will be convinced that it really should be.)

Gatchalian on Wednesday presented a chairman’s report which concluded that the risks of allowing the continuous operations of POGOs outweigh their benefits to the country.

Gatchalian chairs the Senate ways and means committee.

Asked if he considered regulating POGOs instead of completely banning them, Gatchalian said crimes will not disappear.

“Itong mga operators dito are also connected to criminal syndicates or criminal syndicates themselves. I’ll give you a very specific example yung mga kidnapping, yung mga illegal detention hindi gagawin yan ng ordinaryong lehitimong negosyante kung negosyante kang lehitimo hindi ka magkikidnap ng manggagawa ng competitior mo o manggawa ng kalaban mo, papunta ka sa DOLE magfifile ka case,” he said.

(These operators here are also connected to criminal syndicates or criminal syndicates themselves. I'll give you a very specific example, the kidnappings or the illegal detentions, an ordinary legitimate businessman would not do that, if you are a legitimate businessman, you will not kidnap your competitor's worker, you will go to DOLE and file a case.)

“But in this case, lumabas sa pandinig natin na may mga kidnappings na nangyayari ngayon between POGOs and even non-POGOs. May illegal detention din nangyayari so hindi ordinaryong negosyante nag-o-operate dito. These are criminal syndicates kung kaya nila gawin yan ang susunod niyan baka mga ordinaryong citizens na natin ang matatarget,” he added.

(But in this case, we have heard that there are kidnappings happening now between POGOs and even non-POGOs, illegal detention is also happening, so these are not ordinary businessmen operating here, these are criminal syndicates. If they can do that, the next one might be ordinary citizens. We will be the target.)

Gatchalian said they are still updating the committee report on issues surrounding the operations of POGO and routing for signatures among the members of the Senate.

“Actually, tuloy tuloy yung committee report na pinapaikot namin eh so inuupdate. In fact, noong December, may committee report kami inupdate namin iyon, maraming bagong lumalabas ang ginagawa namin ay inupdate namin ang committee report,” he said.

(Actually, the committee report that we are circulating continues to be updated. In fact, in December we had a committee report, we updated it, there are many new things that we are doing, we updated the committee report.)

“Tuloy tuloy eh so right now mayroong (Right now we have) seven senators signed and then we will update that based on our findings so in other words we might come up with another committee report with new information,” he added.

Among the findings that Gatchalian included in his report was the “inherently unstable” business model of POGO due to the outsized foreign regulatory and political risks involved.

Based on the data provided by the BIR, Gatchalian said those operating POGOs are also committing tax evasion.

Around P34.2 billion worth of gross gaming revenues were underreported by POGOs from January to August 2022 alone, resulting in unpaid taxes amounting to P1.7 billion due to under-declaration, he added.

The Senate ways and means committee and the Senate public order and dangerous drugs panel had conducted a separate series of inquiries on the costs and benefits of POGOs in the country. — RSJ, GMA Integrated News