Gov’t looking at inter-agency approach to boost cybersecurity amid influx of POGO workers — DICT chief Honasan

The government is looking at an inter-agency approach to boost the country's cybersecurity efforts, given the influx of foreign employees working for online gaming under the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) industry.

In an interview with reporters in Taguig City, Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT) Secretary Gregorio Honasan II said the efforts will be in coordination with other departments and agencies.

"It's going to be a function of coordination and convergence among all the departments concerned. It's not going to be a purely DICT initiative," Honasan told reporters on the sidelines of the BusinessWorld Industry 4.0 Summit.

This comes after President Rodrigo Duterte last week said the Philippines needs POGOs, citing the employment opportunities they provide to Filipinos.

Last month, however, Defense Secretary Delfin Lorenzana expressed concern that Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs)  — which tap mostly Chinese nationals — near military camps could easily become a breeding ground for espionage.

"What direction are we taking? The analogy is a house -- you put up a fence, a wall, a gate with a lock. Daily, we are subjected to cyber attacks. We can manage that," said Honasan.

"Ang mahirap, kung may magbukas ng pinto galing sa loob, kung may makalimot na ikandado 'yung gate, so that is what we will be focusing about," he elaborated.

The government in July started to impose stricter measures to collect proper taxes from foreigners working in the Philippines, including POGO employees.

The initiative is headed by a task force consisting of the Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Bureau of Immigration (BI), the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).

Citing data from the DOLE and the BI, the DOF said there are some 138,000 foreign nationals working for POGOs.

Working on the assumption that each foreign national earns an average of $1,500 a month and taxed at 25% of gross income, the DOF came up with a rough calculation of P32 a billion a year in income tax collections. — RSJ, GMA News