TITLE: Making the Right Call
When President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos, Jr. delivered his State of the Nation Address last
Monday the most applauded, and which earned a standing ovation in his speech, is his unequivocal
declaration and order to finally put a stop to the operation of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation
(POGO) hubs in the country.
Some sectors and even critics of the President were quick to point out that at least he has
listened to the clamor to end POGO considering that it has become the source of so many crimes and
the conduit of criminal syndicates in the perpetration of their illegal activities.
But delving deeper into the POGO we might be shocked to discover, and this is probably what
compelled the President to terminate this online gambling operation, that the country at least during
the past administration has unwittingly allowed crimes and illegal activities to enter and flourish right
within communities, matters which are against the very laws sought to be upheld by the government.
Just think about it, who would have the courage to entertain ideas and act on them by setting up online
gambling joints with clients from mainland China which, as we all know, has strictly banned gambling in
their territory? If you believe that these POGO hubs in the country are being run, probably a majority of
them particularly those without licenses, by gambling and criminal syndicates from mainland China, then
congratulations, you are absolutely right! There is no way that non-Chinese individuals or groups are
behind these POGO operations and possibly the only instance where Filipinos or some other Asians are
found to be running these POGOs is when they are fronts or dummies of these Chinese criminal
syndicates.
That is why when the Senate investigation led by Senator Risa Hontiveros uncovered the
involvement of suspended mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac in the operation of a raided POGO hub in
that town the whole complicity of Chinese criminal groups in that sordid affair was also exposed. And if
we believe the claim of the Senate investigative body that somehow these Chinese led criminal groups
was able to put in place a formidable protector for their POGO operation in the person of a town mayor
masquerading as a Filipino but who in actuality was really a Chinese national. We now realize the
deviousness by which these Chinese criminal syndicates operate that they can even dupe government
into thinking that their POGO operation is legal and in accordance with law. We can just imagine how
the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) which is a 100 percent government
owned and controlled corporation (GOCC) allowed itself to be used by these criminal syndicates from
mainland China in order for them to put up their gambling business here inside the country and
afterwards allowed their gambling operation to branch out into other criminal and illegal activities such
as online scams, sexual and labor trafficking, illegal drugs, money laundering, and even physical abuse
and torture.
This is also why the President made the right call when he decided to finally put a stop to these
POGO operations in the country, despite the economic benefits that have been derived or could be
derive in the future from such online gaming and gambling activities.
However, as astutely pointed out by one critic of the President the order to stop POGO
operations is easier said than done considering that there are only 43 POGO licensees which the
PAGCOR can shut down while there are about 100 illegal POGO hubs nefariously conducting their
gambling business in the country as reported by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission
(PAOCC).
How then to run after these illegal POGO hubs still operating in the country? Well one
suggestion might be to put up monetary rewards such as so called bounties to whoever can provide
credible information that would lead to the specific places and areas where these illegal POGOs are
being conducted and which would lead to the arrest of the operators or the groups running the show.
Another would be to include in the criminal prosecution or indictment and make them equally
liable those who would allow their properties, deliberately or inadvertently, to be used as POGO hubs
up to and including the confiscation and forfeiture of their properties in favor of the government, after
due process and the conduct of court proceedings of course. Relative to this laws must be enacted that
would direct property owners to strictly scrutinize prospective lessees before allowing their properties
to be rented out.
All of the above can be done by the government as soon as possible to comply with the order of
the President and to end the depredations of POGOs in the Philippines.
