PAGCOR exec admits gaps in inspection of POGOs

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) said it is addressing "gaps" in its inspection of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO) in the country, which is limited to physical checks of offices.

Jessa Mariz Fernandez, assistant vice president for offshore licensing department, told the Senate committee in a hearing Wednesday that PAGCOR also needs interpreters well-versed in Chinese and Bahasa languages during site visits.

The hearing was the continuation of the Senate inquiry presided by Senator Risa Hontiveros on human trafficking incidents in the country, including the case of alleged 1,000 trafficking victims rescued at the Sun Valley in Clark, Pampanga in May.

“Hindi nakita agad since they used to be customer relations service providers. The impression is that...they are using computers, it is sophisticated, and then they zoom out, aalisin nila sa monitor iyong tunay nilang ginagawa,” Fernandez told senators.

“It was a physical inspection by our monitoring team, they do not delve on what is happening on the computers, and we are addressing this gap in this inspection,” she added.

Hontiveros also called out PAGCOR over its failure to alert the police on the Sun Valley operation, given that the inspection and the police raid on the firm were only a few weeks apart.   Fernandez said PAGCOR was “remiss” in this aspect.

Hontiveros, however, said being remiss in combating such crimes should have consequences.

”Being remiss is an understatement. It should have consequences. In our homes, schools, especially in our workplace since we work for the government to combat this terrible syndicated crime,” the senator said.

Fernandez said the agency is now instituting reforms, including placing all POGO licensees under probation until September 15; making future licenses cover only gaming operations; and inspecting anew POGO offices whose licenses were already revoked.

The PAGCOR official said the agency is eyeing to deploy more manpower in its monitoring team who are well-versed in Chinese and Bahasa languages.

“One of the results of our monitoring is we have to deploy more manpower vis-a-vis the number of sites to be inspected. We also have to deploy interpreters, since there are times when they already talk about our inspection but we cannot understand them,” Fernandez said.

“What happened in Clark was really an eye-opener,” she added.

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian observed that more and more human trafficking victims are being rescued.

“Just last May, there were 1,000 human trafficking victims rescued, then another 2,700 human trafficking victims were also rescued. The figure is pushing to 4,000 for this year alone. Are you still supporting the operation of POGO in our country?” Gatchalian said.

Fernandez responded, saying: “While POGO exists, Pagcor’s goal is to regulate it. But we will respect the legislative or executive branch if they decide to outlaw POGO."

Gatchalian, however, said POGO's fate rests on the executive.

“You are part of the executive. We can only express our sense here. You are the one who is going to make the decision. I just want to get a direct answer,” he said.

“We are already the human trafficking capital of the world. It is clear that POGO is not bringing any benefit to our country. It is bringing shame,” he added.—LDF, GMA Integrated News