Barbers: Shut down tax-evading Pogos

Tax-evading Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) should be “shut down and sent home,” according to the chair of the House dangerous drugs panel.

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers on Sunday urged the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to crack down on “tax-cheat” Pogos following revelations that they failed to pay an estimated P50 billion in withholding income and franchise taxes last year.

“The government allowed Pogos to operate here because of the projected revenues they would provide and help our economy. But if the Philippine government would be shortchanged on this, then it is time to shut down their operations and send them home,” he said.

Barbers cited the revelations at a recent Senate hearing by lawyer Sixto Dy Jr. of the BIR Office of the Deputy Commission for Operations, who disclosed that all foreign-based Pogo licensees had not paid their franchise tax in 2019 worth at least P17 to P18 billion.

The BIR also revealed that it was only able to collect P5 billion in 2019 from Pogos.

Of 60 licensed Pogos, 50 are online casino operators based abroad while 10 are Philippine-based.

Barbers said he had already warned in a privilege speech last year that these Pogos “could only bring social, labor and security problems for the country, like being used as money laundering tools by international drug traffickers and other crime syndicates.”

He said the sprouting of Pogos coincided with a rise in crimes involving Pogo workers such as fraud, illegal gambling, kidnap-for-ransom, illegal drugs and prostitution, particularly in Metro Manila.

Barbers recalled Pagcor chair Andrea Domingo’s statement that the Pogo industry could bring in P20 billion a year in lease payments to the real estate sector, another P20 billion in income taxes annually, and a monthly P1.25 billion in value-added tax from the purchases of foreign workers.

“In 2019, the government collected only P5 billion from Pogos. Where is the P20 billion in revenues they were promising?” he said.