Marcos bans POGOs in SONA 2024

President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. has banned all Philippine offshore gaming operators in the country.

In his 3rd State of the Nation Address, Marcos said POGOs had ventured into illicit areas such as scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, torture, and murder.

“The grave abuse and disrespect to our system and laws must stop. Kailangan na itigil ang panggugulo nito sa ating lipunan at paglapastangan sa ating bansa,” Marcos said in his 2024 State of the Nation Address.

(We need to end this scourge on our society and abuse in our country.)

“Effective today, all POGOs are banned,” he added.

This developed after consecutive raids against the POGOs, leading to the discovery of equipment used for torture, love scams, and other crimes.

“I hereby instruct PAGCOR to wind down and cease all operations of POGOs by the end of the year,” Marcos said.

He also instructed the Department of Labor and Employment to find new jobs  for Filipinos who would lose employment.

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto last week recommended the total ban of operations of POGOs due to the issues surrounding the industry.

The Association of Service Providers and POGOs (ASAP) has warned that some 23,000 Filipinos would lose their jobs if the operators were banned.

“This will solve many of the problems that we have been encountering but it will not solve all of them. To solve all the problems that we have been suffering under, all officials, law enforcers, workers in government, and most of all the citizenry, must always be vigilant, principled and think of the health of the nation,” Marcos said.

DOLE, PAGCOR concerned

Department of Labor and Employment Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma said on Monday that the DOLE was concerned for the workers affected by the ban Marcos announced.

“May concern kami pero ‘yan ay direktiba na dapat ipatupad,” Laguesma said in an ambush interview.

(We have concerns but that is a directive that must be implemented.)

“At dahil nandiyan na ang direktiba, binigyan naman ng transition period, gagawin ng DOLE ang kanilang pagi-implementa, pagba-balangkas kung paano natin paggagangin at hindi mahirapan ‘yung mga maapektuhan na mga manggagawa,” he added.

(And because the directive is there and a transition period was also given, the DOLE will implement the directive and draft plans on how to alleviate the situation of the affected workers.)

Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco was also concerned for the workers but said PAGCOR would ensure Marcos' order was implemented by 2025.

“Given the instructions to PAGCOR and basically t.o me to already have it processed, because ang gusto ng Pangulo, sa katapusan ng taon ay totally wala nang operations (what the President wants is that there would totally be no operations by the end of the year),” Tengco said in a separate ambush interview.

“Pagsapit ng 2025, gagawin natin ang lahat ng magagawa para wala nang mago-operate na internet gaming license,” he continued.

(We will do everything possible to ensure that no internet gaming licenses would be operating by 2025.)

Time to act

According to an October 2022 study of the Philippine Institute for Development Studies (PIDS), the government’s should decide immediately whether or not to ban POGOs.

READ: Marcos’ gambit: Decision awaits on POGOs’ future

“At this stage, where a less costly reset is possible, curtailing POGO operations would have a (relatively) limited effect on the property sector and the financial system, with lower exposure of credit institutions to the online gaming industry,” PIDS said.

The study found that the social costs of POGOs outnumbered its economic benefits. Expanding or promoting the POGO sector to maximize its benefits, PIDS said, exposes the country to increased risks of abrupt reversal of capital as well as social, governance, and reputational risks.

Marcos earlier said POGOs might no longer be worth allowing if they brought a social cost considering the crimes linked to them.

While authorities have been conducting raids against POGOs since late 2023, the biggest raids were those  recently conducted such as those in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac, Pampanga.

More than 800 Filipinos and foreign nationals were rescued from Bamban while around 160 individuals were rescued from the Porac hub.

Authorities expected to rescue more than 1,000 individuals from Porac , leading to theories that information from the operation may have been leaked. 

Law enforcement, courts

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian theorized that syndicates may have sources in law enforcement agencies and the judiciary who tipped the operators. 

This also prompted the Supreme Court to investigate allegations that POGOs may have an influence on the country’s court system.

The raid in Bamban also led to an ongoing Senate inquiry against suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo, who has been revealed to share fingerprints with Chinese passport holder Guo Hua Ping, and other local officials.

After Guo failed to repeatedly attend the inquiry, the Senate committee issued an arrest order against her and others.

Guo and 13 others are also facing a complaint for human trafficking in connection to the raided POGO hub in her locality before the Department of Justice (DOJ).

Like last time, Guo did not attend the DOJ’s preliminary probe earlier.

Last week, Gatchalian said he asked the Bureau of Immigration to check if Guo or Guo Hua Ping has departed from the country’s formal exit points, saying that Guo might use her Chinese passport to escape the country.

Prior to this, however, Guo’s camp has said that Guo was still in the Philippines  as the Senate’s Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms tried to locate and arrest her.

Guo has denied involvement in illegal POGO activities and maintained that she is a Filipino citizen.—NB, GMA Integrated News