LOCAL government units (LGUs) must take a stand about allowing the continuous operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) in their respective jurisdictions.
The crimes related to the POGO industry will be the responsibility of LGU officials, said Senator Sherwin Gatchalian.
“Once crime happens in your jurisdiction, it’s the mayor’s responsibility and the local chief of police’s responsibility. So, it becomes a local issue and it becomes the problem of the community,” he said.
The senator issued the statement barely a week after he released a Senate ways and means committee chairman’s report recommending the immediate ban on POGOs.
“What we should strive for is a peaceful and orderly society, a country that we can invite our friends and tourists from abroad to come to. They will not come here if they read in the reports that people are being illegally detained,” he said.
Gatchalian said several LGUs, particularly those which were considered as POGO hubs like Manila, Pasay and Parañaque are starting to recognize the implications of allowing POGO operations in their jurisdiction.
He mentioned Pasig City’s ordinance released in December 2022 directing all online gambling establishments, including POGOs, to wind up their operations within one year.
Should POGO operations continue, Gatchalian warned that criminal syndicates behind kidnappings and illegal detention might influence law enforcers.
“Only criminal syndicates can illegally detain people and that creates an environment that is not stable for all of us. I’m afraid that if we do not stop this, it will cascade to enforcers, and one day, we will have a difficult time mobilizing enforcers as well because they are already taken hold by these criminal operations,” he said.
The senator reiterated that “we are not creating value for our own citizens” if the government will allow POGOs’ continuous operations, noting that 90 percent of the industry employees are foreign nationals and only 10 percent are Filipinos.
On Monday, March 27, at least two senators seek decisive actions on POGOs with one calling on Malacañang to back the proposal in the Senate to ban the operations of offshore gaming in the country. (GMA Integrated News)
