PAGCOR shortens POGO work permits until Dec. 31, 2024

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has shortened the validity of employment permits issued to both foreign and Filipino workers in the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) sector until only the end of this year.

In an announcement uploaded on the PAGCOR website, the gaming industry regulator said that its Board of Directors, on Aug. 15, 2024, approved the adjustments in the validity of POGO workers’ permits or Offshore Gaming Employment License (OGEL).

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. has shortened the validity of employment permit of POGO workers until Dec. 31, 2024 only. pic.twitter.com/sMxXWW80rr

— Ted Cordero (@Ted_Cordero) August 29, 2024

For Filipino OGEL holders, the original validity was “three years from issuance,” but was shortened to “until Dec. 31, 2024.”

For foreigners, their OGEL was originally meant to expire “until the validity of the work visa or work permit issued to employee,” but was also adjusted to until the end of 2024 or “until the validity of the work visa or permit issued to the employee, whichever comes first.”

In his third State of the Nation Address in July, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. banned all POGOs in the country after a series of raids against these establishments where authorities discovered equipment used for torture and "love scams."

Marcos said POGOs have been implicated in crimes including scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, torture, and murder. 

The President gave PAGCOR until the end of the year to wind down and cease the operations of all POGOs in the country.

The Bureau of Immigration, meanwhile, has already started downgrading the working visas of POGO employees to tourist visas. 

The BI, together with the Department of Justice and the PAGCOR, conducted a meeting with POGO representatives, during which the term was changed to Internet Gaming Licensees (IGLs) and they announced that the Immigration Bureau will accept the voluntary downgrading of working visas until October 15.—AOL, GMA Integrated News