Philippines looking forward to keep tourism ties with China; Marcos closely monitoring POGOs — Palace

The Philippines is looking forward to continuing its tourism ties with China as President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. monitors Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), Malacañang said Wednesday.

Malacañang made the statement after the Chinese Embassy denied placing the Philippines on its blacklist for tourist destinations supposedly because travelers might be involved in illegal activities linked to POGOs.

“We share the sentiment of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines that tourism is an important facet to our relationship,” said Office of the Press Secretary officer-in-charge Cheloy Garafil at a press conference.

“We look forward to continuing that relationship as we continuously welcome our friends from China and we anticipate more of them to come in the months and years ahead,” she added.

On Tuesday, the Chinese Embassy said described the report on the alleged blacklisting as “misinformation.”

Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri earlier quoted Chinese Ambassador Huang Xilian as saying that the country was allegedly blacklisted because of POGOs.

Asked about the directives of Marcos on POGOs, Garafil said the President is closely monitoring POGOs.

“Of course, the President is closely monitoring this and as far as the President is concerned, ang Philippine National Police po ang in-charge dito sa usapin na ito (the PNP is in charge of this),” she said.

Meanwhile, during the Senate finance committee’s hearing on the proposed P9,031,722,000 budget for the Office of the President, Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin said the Palace has not decided yet on its stand regarding POGOs but they are discussing the matter.

“We have not yet decided on that, pinaguusapan po but because your investigations, your proceedings are ongoing, out of respect for your findings, we cannot second guess,” Bersamin told the senators.

“Maybe we will go in tandem with you once you come up with your findings... but the feeling is maybe... we are appreciating the problem as we will appreciate it,” he added.

PNP chief Police General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said the enforcement of policy and compliance of owners would be the win-win solution on the issues in POGOs.

The Philippine government last month announced plans to deport at least 2,000 POGO workers by October, in line with the crackdown on undocumented foreign workers in the country.

According to the Department of Justice, there are about 40,000 POGO workers in the country.

The recent actions of the Philippine government on POGOs started after reports of kidnapping involving POGO employees. — with a report from Anna Felicia Bajo/RSJ, GMA News