MAKING THE RIGHT CALL

July 28, 2024 Opinion

When President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. delivered his State of the Nation Address last Monday the most applauded, and which earned a standing ovation in his speech, is his unequivocal declaration and order to finally put a stop to the operation of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation (POGO) hubs in the country. Some sectors and even
critics of the President were quick to point out that at least he has listened to the clamor to end POGO considering that it has become the source of so many crimes and the conduit of criminal syndicates in the perpetration of their illegal activities.

But delving deeper into the POGO we might be shocked to discover, and this is probably what compelled the
President to terminate this online gambling operation, that the country at least during the past administration has
unwittingly allowed crimes and illegal activities to enter and flourish right within communities, matters which are against the very laws sought to be upheld by the government. Just think about it, who would have the courage to entertain ideas and act on them by setting up online gambling joints with clients from mainland China which, as we
all know, has strictly banned gambling in their territory?

If you believe that these POGO hubs in the country are being run, probably a majority of them particularly those without licenses, by gambling and criminal syndicates from mainland China, then congratulations, you are absolutely right! There is no way that non-Chinese individuals or groups are behind these POGO operations and possibly the only instance where Filipinos or some other Asians are found to be running these POGOs is when they are fronts or dummies of these Chinese criminal syndicates.

That is why when the Senate investigation led by Senator Risa Hontiveros uncovered the involvement of suspended mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac in the operation of a raided POGO hub in that town the whole complicity of
Chinese criminal groups in that sordid affair was also exposed. And if we believe the claim of the Senate investigative body that somehow these Chinese led criminal groups was able to put in place a formidable protector for their POGO
operation in the person of a town mayor masquerading as a Filipino but who in actuality was really a Chinese national.

We now realize the deviousness by which these Chinese criminal syndicates operate that they can even dupe government into thinking that their POGO operation is legal and in accordance with law. We can just imagine how the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) which is a 100 percent government owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) allowed itself to be used by these criminal syndicates from mainland China in order for them to put up their gambling business here inside the country and afterwards allowed their gambling operation to branch out into other criminal and illegal activities such as online scams, sexual and labor trafficking, illegal drugs, money laundering, and even physical abuse and torture.

This is also why the President made the right call when he decided to finally put a stop to these POGO operations
in the country, despite the economic benefits that have been derived or could be derive in the future from such online
gaming and gambling activities.