The violations start long before the newly hired Chinese workers pack their bags and leave for Manila from their hometown – usually a rural village in China, one where life isn’t particularly easy and the lure of a higher-paying job in faraway Philippines is irresistible.
The offshore gaming company in Manila where he will be working for has already prepared their visas and have already arranged for the man who will meet them upon arrival.
The Chinese hires will enter the country on a tourist visa – even though they will be here for work – and upon landing, will avail of the “escort services” at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).
My source who narrated this said their gaming company pays P10,000 per person for the service.
Provided by employees of the Bureau of Immigration or airport personnel, these unauthorised escort services facilitate the walk-through of arriving and departing passengers, either personally or via text messaging or phone calls, so they can breeze through the immigration procedures at the counters – no questions asked.
“I personally hand the money to the escort so I know exactly that this escort services are really happening. When the visa is about to expire, we apply for extension,” said my source who has worked for an illegal offshore gaming company for two years.
Because the company is not licensed, it cannot apply for work visa for its employees. Thus, employees who have exhausted the two-year tourist visas will either leave the country and repeat the process all over, said my source.
This of course is a mockery of our immigration laws.
Another option is to be sponsored by a company in Clark, Pampanga that sponsors work visas for illegal offshore gaming operators.
The service fee per person for this arrangement, said my source, is P100,000 to P150,000, depending on the duration of work permit to be applied for.
What are POGOs?
POGOs, as you may already know, are offshore gaming firms that facilitate online gaming via the internet. They use networks and software exclusively for authorized players outside the Philippines who have registered and established an online gaming account with the POGO operator.
Only foreigners based in another country are authorized to play while foreign nationals in the Philippines and Filipinos residing abroad are not allowed to participate in online gaming activities according to the POGO rules. This is to discourage or limit gambling among Filipinos especially minors.
From each POGO applicant, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., the regulator, charges application fees of $150,000 for an e-casino and $120,000 for sports betting. License fees, on the other hand, amount to $200,000 per e-casino and $150,000 for sports betting. A cash bond of $300,000 is also required per licensee.
Obviously, the license fees aren’t cheap. It’s no wonder that there are POGOs that do not apply for license.
Taxing the POGOs
And because they are not not licensed, they also don’t pay the proper taxes.
It’s now up to the government to go after these illegal POGOs. I heard that it will be happening in the next few months with legal operators even offering to help the Department of Finance weed out these unlicensed companies.
The good news is that the legal POGO industry and the DOF have already agreed on the tax rate to be slapped on foreign workers employed by these gaming firms.
The result is a whopping P24 billion a year in tax collections by August 2020 or one year after the government starts collecting P2 billion in monthly taxes starting this month.
If the government successfully cracks down on illegal POGOs, the tax collections could even be higher.
A Filipino-Chinese POGO operator estimates that there are roughly 30 illegal POGO operators in the country or more than 50 percent of the licensed operators which are currently around 55 companies.
Wow. That’s a huge number and they are clearly violating our immigration and taxation laws not to mention skirting around every other law just to do business in the country.
In fact, my source said he decided to leave his company one day when their boss was looking for a hacker.
“Apparently, this hacker would sabotage the system of other (POGO) companies so that players would be redirected to and play on our site,” said my source.
One who isn’t afraid of violating our tax and immigration laws will surely not mind hacking its competitors just to make more money.
I hope the government indeed goes full blast against these illegal POGOs.
Clearly, these entities are laughing at our law enforcement agencies while swimming in wads and wads of gambling money.
It’s obvious they’re here because this is a country where they can get away with their crimes and I’m sure they’re laughing all the way to the bank.
Iris Gonzales’ email address is eyesgonzales@gmail.com. Follow her on Twitter @eyesgonzales.