MANILA, Philippines (Updated 3:50 p.m.) — Moves to restrict Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators continue with the Department of Justice set to meet Chinese embassy officials in the coming days to come up with a resolution on POGOs recently cancelled by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation amid the latest spate of kidnappings linked to the sector.
In a text message to reporters, Justice Assistant Secretary Mico Clavano, department spokesperson, said that Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla will meet with the Chinese Ambassador on Thursday afternoon to discuss the cancelled POGO companies as listed by Pagcor. This marks the first time the Philippine government is meeting Chinese counterparts about the issue.
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"There must be a coordinated effort between the two countries to bring them back to China given that they have no more basis to stay here in the Philippines," he said.
Clavano added that as it stands, the department has recorded some 175 cancelled POGO companies, good for around 40,000 Chinese nationals to be repatriated.
Senate hearing
Earlier Tuesday, the Bureau of Immigration told the Senate Committee on Finance that it was observing an uptick in POGO workers with expired visas transferring to other firms. Other POGO workers were also coming into the country with just tourist visas issued by the consulate, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco said.
The Philippine National Police said as of September 7, it had recorded 27 kidnapping cases so far this year, 20 of which were POGO-related. Last week, anti-kidnapping officers rescued 43 foreign workers found without any ID or documents, effectively rendering them illegal aliens.
Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno has said that the country can move forward without POGOs given its significant decline in revenue generation, pointing out that POGOs have already been discontinued in countries like China and Cambodia.
During the Development Budget Coordination Committee briefing at the Senate, he said that the total revenues from the industry dipped to a meager P3.9 billion in 2021 from its earlier peak of P7.2 billion from the year before.
"It also has a reputational risk, because people will ask, why are they going to the Philippines? Maybe because we are loose, we’re not strict on our rules, so there is a reputational risk,” he said then.
In Congress, lawmakers also continue to to indicate support for possible moves towards banning POGOs altogether. As it currently stands, Sens. Juan Miguel Zubiri, Ramon Bong Revilla, Grace Poe, Nancy Binay, JV Ejercito, and Ronald dela Rosa have either called for tighter regulations on POGOs or a total ban altogether.
"The nature of the Internet, including other Apps such as the Dark Net, allows transactions to occur almost instantaneously and with anonymity, thereby allowing the criminal launderer to avoid detection. The online gambling being operated by POGOs may even be worse than the traditional casino gambling operations,” Rep. Robert Ace Barbers (Surigao Del Norte) also said in a statement sent to reporters Wednesday.
“I had long held that, prior to the spread of COVID-19 virus in March 2020, there are serious effects on the POGOs online gambling operations to our war against, money laundering, criminality, graft and corruption and illegal drugs."
Ambassador: China stands ready to step up law enforcement cooperation
In a separate statement later Wednesday, the Chinese Embassy-Manila said that Ambassador Huang Xilian "exchanged views" with Remulla on "stepping up law enforcement cooperation between China and the Philippines and jointly cracking down on POGO-related crimes in their communication."
Huang said that the Chinese government firmly opposes and takes tough measures to combat gambling. He also reiterated Chinese laws and regulations, which prohibit gambling in whatever form by Chinese citizens.
"Crimes induced by and associated with online gambling not only harm China’s interests and China-Philippines relations, but also hurt the interests of the Philippines. The Chinese government protects the legitimate rights and interests of overseas Chinese citizens in accordance with the law anywhere at any time," the statement read.
"The Chinese side stands ready to step up law enforcement cooperation with the Philippine side so as to well protect the safety and legitimate rights and interests of Chinese citizens in the Philippines. The Chinese side welcomes the Philippine side to take strong measures to crack down on crimes related to POGOs, and tackle its root cause so as to address the social ills in a sweeping manner." — with a report from Kaycee Valmonte and Kristine Joy Patag