Sen. Risa Hontiveros —Senate PRIB
MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Risa Hontiveros mentioned on Saturday that the presidential order to terminate Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) contained loopholes which will permit their continued operation inside casinos and freeports.
Government Order No. 74, signed by President Marcos on Nov. 5, didn’t explicitly declare that the ban on Pogos coated all institutions that weren’t beneath the supervision of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), Hontiveros mentioned.
The state playing regulator had mentioned that the prohibition, which the President introduced throughout his third State of the Nation Handle (Sona) on July 22, would come with all Pogos, which Pagcor had since renamed as web gaming licensees, or IGLs.
READ: Marcos order banning Pogos lastly out: All for nationwide safety
“Whereas I laud the goals of the manager order and grateful for the reintegration program for the displaced staff, there are issues within the EO that aren’t clear,” Hontiveros mentioned in a press release.
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Silent on ecozones
For one, she famous that Part 1b of the order said that Pogos, which flourished in the course of the Duterte administration, “excludes on-line video games of likelihood performed in Pagcor-operated casinos, licensed casinos or built-in resorts with junket agreements.”
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“It seems that Pagcor-operated and -licensed casinos are exempted (from the ban) on working offshore on-line video games of likelihood,” Hontiveros mentioned.
“Does this imply that Pogos could also be allowed to function in casinos like Metropolis of Goals or Fontana (Leisure Park)? Or in resorts that function casinos (inside their property)?” she requested.
Hontiveros, who has led two separate Senate inquiries into Pogo-related crimes, additionally identified that the EO was silent in regards to the energy of particular financial zones, just like the Cagayan Particular Financial Zone and Freeport, to grant permits to offshore playing firms.
Cagayan Financial Zone Authority (Ceza) Administrator Katrina Ponce Enrile, the daughter of Chief Presidential Authorized Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, had denied experiences that Ceza allowed Pogos to function on the freeport in Sta. Ana, Cagayan.
“The ‘different offshore gaming licensees’ are these ‘licensed beneath their respective charters and topic to the supervision and/or jurisdiction of Pagcor,’” Hontiveros mentioned.
Order to Ceza
“However Ceza and Apeco are each exterior the supervision and jurisdiction of Pagcor,” she added. Apeco is the Aurora Pacific Financial Zone and Freeport Authority in Casiguran, Aurora.
Malacañang on Saturday mentioned that in a memorandum from Government Secretary Lucas Bersamin on the identical day the EO was signed, Ceza was directed to strictly and instantly adjust to the President’s order.
Bersamin instructed Enrile that “you’re hereby instructed to stick to the directive issued by the President throughout his State of the Nation Handle on 22 July 2024 relating to the fast ban of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators or Web Gaming Licensees within the Philippines, topic to relevant legal guidelines, guidelines and rules.”
“For strict and fast compliance,” he mentioned.
For nationwide safety
Initially envisioned to cater to bettors overseas, significantly Chinese language, Pogos turned entangled in varied legal actions, resembling kidnappings, killings, human trafficking, torture and cyber fraud. These have been uncovered throughout Senate hearings on Pogos spearheaded by Hontiveros.
In issuing the EO on Friday, Marcos mentioned that it was the state’s “paramount obligation to safeguard nationwide safety, keep public order, uphold the rule of legislation, defend the protection of its residents and make sure the integrity of the social material of the nation.”
On July 31, every week after the President’s Sona, Enrile and her father appeared at a Home listening to on crimes linked to Pogos the place they mentioned that the prohibition on Pogos shouldn’t destroy Ceza’s operations, together with its offshore gaming licensees.
Enrile mentioned Ceza had offshore gaming licensees or interactive gaming (iGaming) operators. She mentioned the international iGaming operators all function legally and are barred from soliciting or accepting bets from the Philippines or from international locations the place playing is prohibited.
Ceza has the authority to conduct offshore iGaming operations since its constitution permits it to register enterprises organized or primarily based right here and overseas, Enrile mentioned. The Ceza constitution was principally authored by her father, a former senator.
Distinctive hub in Asia
The Cagayan Freeport Zone is the primary and solely regulated interactive gaming jurisdiction in Asia, the place international iGaming operators are licensed to conduct interactive gaming actions like sports activities betting, telebetting, e-casino and random quantity video games.
Enrile instructed the lawmakers that Ceza’s iGaming actions “don’t in any means negatively have an effect on, affect, nor contribute to the proliferation of playing actions,” and that the President’s Pogo ban shouldn’t be to Ceza’s detriment.
She didn’t clarify why shutting down these deemed to be Pogo firms would result in the detriment of Ceza when in its personal report in June this yr, there have been solely 12 interactive gaming help providers and enterprise course of outsourcing operators out of 96 registered enterprises.
The report, nonetheless, didn’t point out how a lot investments had been poured in by the 12 iGamers and BPOs.
Locators
The tourism sector was the biggest enterprise class, with 16 registered enterprises. Different main sectors included buying and selling and providers (15 registrants), monetary know-how and offshore digital foreign money exchanges (13 registrants) and actual property (11 registrants).
In a 2017 report, the Fee on Audit mentioned that of the 92 locators or buyers Ceza had then had pumped in P8.753 billion into the financial zone. It mentioned 35 have been in iGaming, 14 in buying and selling and different associated providers, 12 in tourism and resort providers, seven in actual property, 5 in leisure amenities improvement and operation, three BPOs, three extra recognized as gaming operators, three in mineral processing and exportation, plus 10 in different companies, resembling port operations and logistics.
Ambiguities
Hontiveros mentioned the ambiguities within the President’s order highlighted the necessity to enact a “clear legislation to maneuver ahead with a significant, clear, unequivocal and complete ban.”
She took the identical place as Sen. Joel Villanueva on two Senate payments—Senate Invoice No. 2752, or the Anti-Pogo Act, and Senate Invoice No. 1281, or the Anti-On-line Playing Act—in pushing for the fast passage of the measures that will outlaw all types of internet-based playing within the nation.
“I’ll make certain in the course of the intervals of interpellation and amendments that these gaps and loopholes (in EO 74) are addressed,” she mentioned.
Villanueva mentioned the President took a “decisive motion” in issuing the EO and it confirmed the administration’s sincerity in “completely shutting down Pogos whereas guaranteeing (the) welfare of displaced Filipino staff.”
“As we now have persistently said, the social prices of Pogos far outweigh any profit, which is why it’s time to take away them from the nation as soon as and for all,” he instructed the Inquirer.
“Legislative motion will solidify the manager’s coverage and guarantee its lasting impression,” mentioned the senator, who can also be a Christian pastor.
Cash laundering
EO 74 mentioned the elevated crime charge, social instability and exploitation of individuals considerably outweighed the financial and social advantages of Pogos.
The Anti-Cash Laundering Council mentioned Pogos have been vulnerable to cash laundering, fraud and different illicit monetary actions, and pose threats to the integrity of the nationwide monetary system.
“The excessive reputational dangers related to Pogos/IGL operations deter international funding and tourism, undermining the efforts of the nationwide authorities in selling the nation as a protected and sustainable funding and tourism vacation spot,” EO 74 mentioned. —with a report from Inquirer Analysis
