CHANGE THE LAW

December 14, 2024 Opinion

After President Ferdinand ‘Bongbong’ Marcos Jr. issued an ultimatum and directive that all Philippine Off-shore Gaming Operator (POGO) operations are to be shut down by year-end, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming
Corporation (PAGCOR), thru its Chairman Alejandro Tengco, immediately followed suit by announcing that on December 15, 2024 it will revoked all POGO licenses in the country. The directive from the president and the subsequent announcement by the PAGCOR thru its Chairman is all well and good but a recommendation must also be submitted to Congress to amend the law that allowed and regulated the operation of POGO.

The law here is Republic Act No. 11590 enacted in September 22, 2021 which essentially gave permission for these POGO operators to establish POGO hubs all over the country subject of course to the payment of the necessary taxes. In fact R.A. 11590 actually amended several sections of the National Internal Revenue Code of 1997 particularly sections 22, 25, 27 106, 108 and adding new sections 125-A and 228 (G) thereby legitimizing and regulating POGOs in the county. If you take a look at the declaration of policy of R.A. 11590 you would notice that the intention of the amendment to the tax law is supposed to “promote a just and dynamic social order that will ensure the prosperity and independence of the nation and free the people from poverty through policies that provide adequate social
services, promote full employment, a rising standard of living, and an improved quality of life for all.”

Well we all know that that is not what happened and instead by allowing POGO operations in the country it gave
rise to various forms of crimes and abuse where the victims are not only Filipinos but also foreigners who were duped, either by force or coercion, to work in these POGO hubs. What is also ironic is that in the declaration of policy in section 1 of R.A. 11590 the State already recognized the possible adverse effects of letting POGO into the country with such statements as, “Towards this end, the State shall strictly regulate all forms of legal gambling and prohibit all forms of illegal gambling. While doing so, the State recognizes that revenues generated from legal gambling are not a sustainable source of income”, and “The State further reiterates that the recognition of legal forms of gambling, including offshore gaming, shall not be construed as a favorable state endorsement of such activity.”

But Congress and the previous administration still allowed POGO to do its business in the country. Following therefore the order of the president to finally end POGO in the country Congress should also look into revising or amending R.A. 11590 to remove from its contents any mention of POGO and simply introduce a new section that
would permanently ban the operation of POGO in the country. This should be done as soon as possible to support
and give teeth to the ultimatum of the president. On the other hand, another dangerous effect that POGO has generated is the fact that enterprising Filipinos now know what POGO is all about and for those already having
experienced making oodles of money out of these POGO hubs it would not take a great stretch of the imagination for them to realize that they could still operate their own POGO hubs sans foreigner involvement in its operations and without securing any franchise, license or permit from PAGCOR thus the makings of an underground and illegal POGO hub operation.

This would not do of course and so illegal and underground operations of POGO should not be tolerated by the government. This will of course entail another approach and measure from the government to provide sanctions and penalties for those caught operating an illegal POGO hub. So perhaps not only should R.A. 11590 be amended to
remove all mention of POGO in its section but also to impose penalties such as fines and imprisonment for those who will be operating illegally in order to prevent them from doing so. Finally amending the law will more or less make permanent the order of the President to end POGO in the country.