Philippines Sen. De Lima calls for new Senate probe into POGOs

Senator Leila de Lima is the black sheep of Philippines politics. The Duterte government and its supporters rather she stayed quiet in her prison cell, and she’s saying anything she can to stay in the spotlight. She’s now joining the chorus of opposition senators hammering on the Philippine Offshore Gambling Operator (POGO) issue, calling for her own Senate probe.

Senator de Lima has filed Senate Resolution 440 to call for the probe. She cited a rise in POGO activities during the Covid-19 pandemic as the reason for the probe, which “merits a clear and unequivocal action from the government, including Congress.”

“There is a need to determine the resolve in which our law enforcement sector to implement our laws against POGOs,” she added.

While most licensed POGOs are operating within the law, De Lima wants an explanation from the Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), the regulator of the sector, as well as the Department of Finance, on why POGOs should be allowed to continue operating “in spite of their well-documented, repeated and continuous offenses against Philippine laws.”

Taking a different tactic than some of her fellow colleagues, De Lima isn’t only looking to grill POGOs though. Instead, she wants to question the authorities that should be monitoring the industry. “The Philippine National Police, the Department of Justice, and the Bureau of Immigration should report on the cases involving Pogos and how said cases are being dealt with in order to determine if our government is meeting the challenges posed by the POGOs against our rule of law,” she explained.

On May 1, PAGCOR allowed a partial resumption of POGO operations while Metro Manila remained under an Enhanced Community Quarantine. To be allowed to reopen, POGOs would have to satisfy certain health requirements, as well as prove they had paid all their taxes.

As of June 1, several government agencies had noted that not a single POGO had met these requirements.

But while licensed POGOs remain shuttered, local police have raided several unlicensed POGO sites, and stories of POGO kidnappings continue to grab headlines.

“The current administration’s kid-glove approach against POGO-related criminality has emboldened these POGOs to continue their activities unimpeded within the Philippines, with little to no regard for our laws nor our standards for public health and safety,” De Lima said.

“Congress should now step up and re-evaluate our country’s policies concerning the regulation of Pogos and determine whether or not they should be permitted to legally operate in our country once and for all,” the senator concluded.

Blaming the entire industry for the actions of underground operations seems like a great way to cut off your nose to spite your face. As several experts have noted in the past, should the POGO industry shrink or be eliminated, the knock on effect for other industries would be terrible for the Philippines economy.

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