Palace says gov’t not condoning issues surrounding Pogos
MANILA, Philippines—From a multibillion-peso immigration scheme to tax delinquency and prostitution rings, Chinese workers in the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (Pogo) industry have been hogging the headlines as of late.
Amid the rise of these pressing issues, Malacañang insisted Tuesday that the government is not turning a blind eye on these concerns.
“The record of this administration speaks for itself. It doesn’t turn a blind eye on anything in terms of governance,” presidential spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a Palace briefing.
Panelo, who is also President Rodrigo Duterte’s chief legal counsel, claimed nothing is “indispensable” in this government, stressing how the President ordered the termination of the Visiting Forces Agreement with the United States despite the military gains the country reaped from it.
“Look at the VFA issue, despite all odds, he [Duterte] decided to cut it off. There are supposed to be very significant implications according to critics and supporters of VFA, but that didn’t stop the President from abrogating it. Wala sa Presidente iyon [That’s nothing for the President],” the Palace official pointed out.
“‘Di ba sabi nga ni Presidente, [Like what the President said] ‘there is no sacred cow in this government. If it’s against the interest of the people and general welfare, I’ll stop it.’ This is the kind of President we have,” he added.
The number of Chinese nationals who came to the Philippines to work for Pogo firms has noticeably increased since Duterte sought warmer ties with China. But despite its economic gains, there has been a mounting fear that Chinese workers are taking jobs for Filipinos, evading taxes and sometimes even committing crimes.
The influx of Pogo workers gave birth to some of the pressing issues today.
During a previous Senate inquiry on prostitution dens for Pogo workers, National Bureau of Investigation Deputy Director for Special Investigation Service Vicente De Guzman III bared that customers of sex dens recently raided by law enforcers are mostly Chinese employees of Pogos.
The majority of licensed Pogo firms are also deemed tax-delinquent after a Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) official revealed that they failed to pay the government an estimated total of P50 billion in withholding income and franchise taxes in 2019.
More recently, a “pastillas” modus or illegal airport escort service catering to Chinese nationals wanting to work at the Pogo firms was also uncovered during another legislative inquiry. Under the scheme, Immigration officials allegedly received an estimated total of P10 billion “kickback” from Chinese nationals who were promised seamless entry into the country for a P10,000-service fee.
