Marcos eyes Catholic bishops in body to form online gambling policy

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is creating a body that will formulate the government's policy on online gambling, and he is looking to include Catholic bishops in the process because of their recent pronouncements on the issue.

In an interview with GMA Integrated News, Marcos was asked why online gambling was not mentioned in his last State of the Nation Address (SONA). He said he started organizing a conference among affected stakeholders about the matter. 

''Because we had not, we still have to form the policy on what we are going to do about online gambling. And to this end, I have already started to organize a... shall we, to convene a conference of those who are... all the stakeholders. We are talking about, maraming marami tayong naririnig from the CBCP (we've heard a lot from the CBCP),'' Marcos said. 

''So, sama natin sila. Mga pari, mga obispo. The parents, of course, are stakeholders here kasi victimized demographic, ang mga kabataan. Tapos, we have to talk to the people who will, kung mag-reregulate tayo, who will be doing the regulation. The first effect of banning it fully is to put it underground. And then we have no control. 'Yan talagang wala na tayong recognition,'' he added.

(So, let's include them, the priests, the bishops. The parents, of course, are stakeholders here because the victimized demographic is the youth. We also have to discuss who will do the regulation. The first effect of banning it fully is to put it underground. And then we have no control. In there, we have no recognition.) 

Marcos emphasized that, ''The problem is not online gambling. The problem are the social effects on our children and those who are addicted to gambling.'' 

''Paano natin patitigilin 'yan? (How can we stop this?) These are the things that we are going to examine and we will come up with a plan to make sure that we address the problem,'' Marcos said. 

Several lawmakers have pushed for a ban on the industry given worries that addiction is soaring, with more gamblers drawn to online, even accelerated further by advertisements on social media and e-wallet platforms.

The lawmakers have also proposed stricter regulations for online gambling, as they said a total ban would only lead to the public heading to illegal operations.

Marcos will study the calls to ban online gambling, Malacañang earlier said.

Earlier, online gaming operators licensed with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) expressed opposition over proposals for a total ban on online gambling in the country.

They warned that Filipinos might shift to unregulated sites on the black market.—LDF, GMA Integrated News