MANILA, Philippines — Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III said it was time to declare all Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) activities illegal so that “no cover” would be used to justify its continued presence in the country.
Finance Secretary Ralph Recto reportedly plans to recommend to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to stop POGO operations amid reports linking them to criminality such as human trafficking, kidnapping, torture, and money laundering.
“Some really don’t have licenses/permits from the very start but got their foreign managers and workers from authorized POGOs. Hence the entire system which allows POGOs has become the problem because the system ‘has been gamed,” Pimentel said in a text message.
“Loopholes have been taken advantage of. The regulators at various levels have been penetrated and ‘compromised.’ Time to declare all POGO activities illegal hence no ‘cover’ whatsoever can be used,” he added.
Sen. Grace Poe also supports Recto’s plan. “The recommendation to stop POGO operations by the Finance Secretary only proves that the supposed ‘revenue contribution’ of POGOs to our economy is not worth it and not enough to justify their continued presence in the country,” she said.
Poe said the reported 0.2 percent contribution of the sector to the country’s gross domestic product “is negligible in light of the social costs that the government has been shouldering since we allowed it in our shores.”
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