DOLE to POGOS: Allow workers to attend job fairs

The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) on Thursday appealed to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) to allow their employees to join job fairs, following the poor attendance recorded in the fair held earlier this month.

According to Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma, there were only some 300 job seekers out of the 1,200 who registered online who arrived at the DOLE job fair for POGO workers held on October 10, of whom at least 33 were hired on the spot.

“Nagkaroon kami ng jobs fair noong October 10 pero hindi masyadong marami ang nag-participate galing sa IGL (internet gaming licensees)… We’d like to also encourage and appeal to their employers na payagan silang mag-participate para makahanap (ng trabaho),” he said at the sidelines of the Arangkada Philippines Forum in Pasay City.

(We held a jobs fair on October 10, but not that many participated from IGLs. We’d like to also encourage and appeal to their employers to allow them to participate for them to find jobs.)

“‘Yung mga nag-participate nung last jobs fair namin, konti lang eh… Siguro for various reasons — hindi pinayagan, ayaw nilang mag-absent, so gagawin namin, ilalapit namin ‘yung venue tapos pakikiusapan namin mga employers,” he added.

(Only a few participated in our last jobs fair. Maybe for various reasons — they were not allowed, they did not want to be absent, so what we will do is to move the venues closer to them, and appeal to their employers.)

Laguesma said the DOLE is now working on holding another job fair this month, where some 100 employers are expected to participate, with job opportunities projected to be more than the 40,000 POGO workers to be displaced by the ban by the end of the year.

“Actually maraming available (na job opportunities) eh, kaya lang dapat mag-match ang kanilang skills. Kaya nga ‘yung mga may kakulangan, ang gagawin namin, baka dapat mabigyan sila ng upskilling, reskilling,” he said.

(Actually, there are a lot of job opportunities available, but the thing is, their skills should match. This is why for those lacking, what we will do is to give them upskilling, reskilling.)

The DOLE last month said it has already profiled 27,747 of the 40,692 Filipino workers under the POGO industry based on figures from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR).

Marcos in his third state of the nation address (SONA) in July announced the ban on POGOs, and ordered PAGCOR to wind down and stop all operations by the end of the year.

A cost-benefit analysis by the Department of Finance (DOF) showed that the POGO industry had a net cost of P99.52 billion to the Philippines, equivalent to 0.41% of the country’s economy as of 2021.

This comes as POGOs saw a total cost of P265.74 billion to the economy, of which P84.87 billion were direct economic costs — P39.94 billion on the estimated decrease in foreign investments due to crime, P28.62-billion decrease in inbound tourism revenues, P15.42-billion decrease in foreign investments due to corruption perception, and P0.5 billion on additional costs for law enforcement and immigration. —KBK, GMA Integrated News