Poe: Less text scams after POGO ban announcement

Senator Grace Poe on Monday raised the possible correlation of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) to text scams and stressed the need for the ban on the industry to be written into law.

In a manifestation during the Senate plenary session, Poe noticed that text scams have decreased since President Ferdinand "Bongbong" Marcos Jr. announced the ban on POGOs during his State of the Nation Address last month.

"From that time on actually a little before that time until the present, kung mapapansin ninyo, wala nang masyadong nagte—text scam sa inyo ngayon ng mga nanalo kayo ng ganitong jackpot o kaya yung package ninyo, kailangan i-redeem ninyo, ganito-ganyan. So nangangahulugan lamang na malaki ang kinalaman nitong mga nag-ooperate ng mga illegal na POGOs sa ating bansa," Poe said.

"Nagkandahirap tayo ipasa ang text scam law na finally napasa na pero nagugulat tayo dahil tuloy-tuloy pa rin ang mga pagta-text ng mga scam sa atin. Yun pala, siguro merong correlation between those scammers and those that were raided just recently," she went on.

("From that time on actually a little before that time until the present, if you have noticed, text scams of winning jackpots or you need to redeem a package have become a lot less now. It means that there is a big chance whoever is involved in these are operating with illegal POGOs in our country.)

We had a difficult time in passing the text scam law that was finally passed but we were surprised that text scams continued. It turns out there is a possible correlation between those scammers and those that were raided just recently.)

Poe is the principal sponsor of the SIM Registration Law which seeks to deter crimes using the platform including text and online scams by regulating the sale and the use of SIM cards through mandating registration to end-users.

"The President's words that legal and illegal POGOs are no longer allowed somehow made a big impact at least when it comes to these scams that we are receiving," she noted.

But the fight against scams is not yet over, she said, that's why a law banning POGOs is needed.

"There will probably still be other scammers that will try to fool our countrymen, but at least this is a large step forward," she said.

"So I think it will be also wise for us to have legislation to finally pass the banning, to finally make it in writing, make it a law that no legal or illegal POGOs will be allowed and other online platforms that will be harmful to our countrymen," she added.

Senator Joel Villanueva earlier filed a bill imposing a total ban on POGOs and repealing the law that provides for the taxing of the industry. —RF, GMA Integrated News