#BagongPilipinasWalangPOGO

Caught some of Karen Davila‘s Hot Talk chat with Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino, the part about POGOs. Parang he tried to make it just about Alice Guo and her birth documents etc.  but Davila very deftly and deliberately got it back on track. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eGAP4GoeX8w

KD. Alice Guo is no longer my issue. My issue really, the real issue, is POGO. It is illegal in China and yet it is legal in the Philippines. Why?

FT.  … There was a previous congressional imprimatur to authorize PAGCOR [to issue licenses] as part of a revenue- generation scheme for the government during the pandemic. … Regulation as total ban in consideration of social moral ills would have to be weighed.…

KD. Do you support a POGO ban, or are you for legalizing, regulating.…

FT. For a ban there has got to be a transition if we consider the thousands of locals that would be affected. I’m not talking of illegal Chinese but those [locals] displaced during the pandemic who were able to acquire work, college graduates from southern Tagalog and other areas… There has got to be a transition period… In the interim where do we place them, moving forward, how do we absorb them in the labor market. … I think the current idea of some of my colleagues is that it has to be phased in, perhaps two years, three years, before a total ban…. [wow such concern for some Pinoys, totoo ba?]

KD. How many Filipinos are really employed by legal POGOs?

FT.  … They run in the thousands…  BUT whether we’re talking of 10 thousand, 12 thousand, or even of 10 Filipinos, hindi naman tayo papayag na may sampung Pilipino na in these times hindi sa kanilang kagustuhan ay mawalan ng  hanapbuhay. May mga pamllya din po yun, kahit po yun lilima, lalo na ang mga kababayan ko sa Southern Tagalog, mga kababayan ko sa Cavite…. [yeah right]

KD.  …  BUT even if POGO is legalized, along with POGO comes human trafficking, prostitution. so we talk about giving Filipinos jobs, but that’s the return. So my question is, IS IT REALLY WORTH IT? There are many Asian countries that have already banned POGO, but not the Philipppines…

FT.  Ang ayaw ko lang ay mawalan ng trabaho ang ating mga kababayan…

Naku, G. Senador, di na bumebenta, lumang tugtugin na, yang ganyang justification: may mga Pinoy na mawawalan ng trabaho. Iyan na rin ang daing ng mga taga-Zambales at Pampanga nung isasara na ang US bases. But the good Senators of the 8th Congress agreed that the welfare of the whole, the common good, is more important than the welfare of the few.

Besides, the US bases and POGOs were bad ideas to begin with.

Tama si Karen. POGOs are not worth the taxes they generate for government, kahit magkano pa yan, dahil grabeng kriminalidad at korupsyon ang kaakibat.

Nakakagulat nga na walang urgency to ban POGOs outright, given well-founded fears of Chinese sleepers, spies, moles, and pasaways likely infiltrating and influencing our communities, politics, economics, the bureaucracy, government.

Finance Sec Ralph Recto aka VATman has said he has no objection to a ban but, like Tolentino, he doesn’t think it should be rushed.

Asked whether he would bring up the issue with the Marcos administration’s economic team, Recto said he planned to advise the group “at the appropriate time” within the year.

“Today, a lot of Pogos are not really Pogos. They are doing something else but we generalize and call on all the Pogos, so that must be studied carefully. I have to consult also with the Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.) as to how much they are earning there,” he said. https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1949500/recto-on-calls-to-ban-pogos-no-objection

Kapani-paniwala tuloy ang hinala ni Ronald Llamas, aktibistang RJ na dating political adviser ni PNoy, kung bakit patuloy ang suporta ng mga pulitiko sa POGO. Check out Politiskoop https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=7113295538776740

BAKÂ pinondohan ng POGO … POGO politics, POGO economics. Kaya tikom ang mga bibig. … Paratíng ang eleksyon. Sigurado ako, 100 percent, papasok ang POGO money.

Makes sense. Pinondohan malamang ng POGO noong 2022 elections. Popondahan muli sa 2025 at 2028?

In fairness to Congress, there are ban-POGO bills at committee level in both Houses.

February 2024 — The House Committee on Games and Amusement, chaired by Rep. Antonio Ferrer (Cavite, 6th District), on Monday approved House Bill (HB) 5082 and House Resolution (HR) 1197, measures that seek to ban Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and declaring their operations illegal. https://www.congress.gov.ph/photojournal/zoom.php?photoid=5596&key=5082

September 2023 — The Senate committee on ways and means has recommended permanently banning Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogos) in the country. Senator Win Gatchalian, chairman of the committee, said the recommendation was contained in Committee Report No. 136 filed at the Senate on Tuesday.

Ten senators signed the report.

Win Gatchalian
Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa
JV Ejercito
Pia Cayetano
Grace Poe
Raffy Tulfo
Risa Hontiveros
Loren Legarda
Joel Villanueva
Koko Pimentel
https://newsinfo.inquirer.net/1834185/senate-panel-recommends-ban-of-pogos-in-ph

Sana the 10 have not changed their minds.
And sana these 14 change theirs.

Chiz Escudero
Jinggoy Estrada
Francis Tolentino
Sonny Angara
Nancy Binay
Alan Peter Cayetano
Bong Bo
Lito Lapid
Imee Marcos
Robin Padilla
Bong Revilla
Cynthia Villar
Mark Villar
Migz Zubiri

BBM could take the initiative, announce it as urgent on SONA day, and spin it all he wants. I bet it’ll do wonders for his approval ratings.

Then again baka tabla lang, given the hymn & pledge order, but that’s another story.
#BagongPilipinasWalangPOGO