Gatchalian chides PAGCOR over 'failure' to monitor illegal activities in raided Pasay POGO hub

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Friday reprimanded the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) over what he called “failure of regulation” of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), particularly the lack of inspection at the recently raided POGO hub in Pasay City.

At the Senate investigation into the raided POGO hub in Pasay, PAGCOR senior vice president for security and monitoring cluster Raul Villanueva said the standard rule in the agency is to conduct inspection at POGO firms twice a week.

But Gatchalian was not convinced that PAGCOR was doing a twice a week inspections, citing what they saw during their inspection inside the POGO hub where they found alleged torture chambers, sex dens, KTVs, grocery stores, and massage parlors.

“You disclosed in this committee last May that you need to inspect twice a week. So, in a span of that one year, twice a week kayo nag-iinspect, hindi ninyo nakita na nagko-construct sila ng KTV, nagko-construct sila ng grocery, nagko-construct sila ng dormitory (You were inspecting twice a week but you did not see they were constructing a KTV, grocery, dormitory). Nobody saw that?” a vividly disappointed Gatchalian said.

“You tell us nag-iinspect kayo, but all of these things are happening. That’s my point. What kind of inspection are you doing? Because, in my opinion, this is a failure of regulation. If we are just doing our jobs properly, regulating, hindi mangyayari lahat po ito e (this would not have happened),” he went on.

Villanueva tried to explain that they were barred from entering the POGO hub in Pasay City and they cannot go into the dormitories found inside the building due to possible violation of individuals’ privacy.

Apart from the POGO firm in Pasay, Gatchalian also showed photos of two addresses used in POGO licenses based on PAGCOR’s database.

“Does this look like a POGO operator? Mukha ba 'yang licensed POGO operator? There’s another one…So my point is if you have done your inspection, ‘yung totoong inspection, hindi ‘yung bulag na inspection, this would not happen,” Gatchalian said.

Villanueva tried to explain that they have no police powers and they only rely on the Department of Justice.

Still not convinced with PAGCOR’s explanation, Gatchalian echoed the “conflict of interest” between PAGCOR’s mandate to regulate and generate revenue as pointed out by Senator Risa Hontiveros at the early part of the hearing.

“The chairperson mentioned earlier that conflict of interest--in one hand, you want to make money. On the other hand, you need to regulate and this does not go well together. That’s why we are now in this problem, in this fiasco,” Gatchalian said.

“The committee should really look into this conflict of interest because it is now being exploited by criminal syndicates. These criminal syndicates are smarter than us. Alam nila na may problema ang sistema natin kaya pumapasok sila dito (They knew that our system is problematic so they are taking advantage of this),” he went on.

Apart from being frustrated about the POGO situation in the country, Gatchalian also said he is afraid that these operations in the country will victimize ordinary Filipinos.

In her opening statement, Hontiveros said it is a problem when the country’s supposed regulators have both regulatory and revenue generating mandates.

“When these mandates conflict, which one suffers? When income generation is prioritized over social impact, who suffers? Hindi na ito hypothetical kundi kitang kita ng dalawang mata natin ang pangkasalukuyan na nating reyalidad (This is not hypothetical, we see the reality with our own eyes)-- public safety and national security suffer,” Hontiveros said.

Gatchalian and Hontiveros on Friday morning conducted an ocular inspection inside the six-storey POGO building in Pasay where the lawmakers saw the alleged torture chamber, KTV rooms, canteens, barber shops, restaurants, and spa rooms.

After the inspection, the Senate panel held the first hearing on the issue at the building which became the venue for the alleged various illegal activities.

The probe was launched after Gatchalian filed a resolution last week.—AOL, GMA Integrated News