Pangilinan rejects proposal to let POGO resume operations

MANILA, Philippines — “Uunahin pa ang negosyo at trabaho ng mga Tsino sa POGO habang walang makain at walang hanapbuhay ang mga Pilipino dahil sa lockdown?”

Senator Francis Pangilinan raised this question on Wednesday following a proposal to allow Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) to resume business so the government could have an additional source of funding for its effort to address the COVID-19 outbreak.

ACT-CIS Rep. Eric Go Yap, chair of the House appropriations committee, earlier called on the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) to immediately lift the suspension of POGO operations “to give our tax collection a much-needed boost.”

But Pangilinan thumbed down such a proposal.

“Boost state funds? Eh DOF (Department of Finance) na nga ang nagsasabi na ni hindi nga nagbabayad ng bilyong-bilyong pisong buwis ang mga ‘yan (The finance department itself said these POGOs are not paying billions and billions of taxes),” Pangilinan said in a tweet.

“Masyado naman atang malakas ang kapit nitong mga Chinese na operators ng POGO sa matataas ng opsiyal ng Gobyernong Duterte at atat na atat itong unahin pa ang mga dayuhang Chinese na magkatrabaho ulit kaysa sa ating mga kababayan?” the senator said in another tweet.

(It seems that Chinese operators of POGO have a strong connection to high-ranking officials of the Duterte administration that they are in a rush to accommodate first Chinese workers instead of our own countrymen.)

Pangilinan stressed that the government should prioritize jobs for locals and not for Chinese.

“Magkano ba ang ambag nila? At kanino ba talaga napupunta ang ambag ng mga ito? (How much are they contributing and where are these going?)” Pangilinan said.

“Unahin ninyo na makapagtrabaho ulit ang mga kababayanan nating Pilipino at hindi ang mga Chinese. Sino ba amo ng Administrasyon na ito? Mag-ayos kayo!” he added.

(Make our countrymen the priority in the resumption of work and not the Chinese. Who is the boss of this administration? Fix yourselves!)

In his proposal to allow the resumption of POGO operations, Yap said PAGCOR should explore work from home arrangements.

“Kailangan natin mas maging creative, let’s think out of the box. PAGCOR should come up with guidelines stipulating do’s and don’ts. Malinaw dapat, work from home should be allowed only if it’s accredited by PAGCOR,” Yap said.

(We need to be creative, let’s think out of the box. PAGCOR should come up with guidelines stipulating do’s and don’ts. It must be clear, work from home should be allowed only if it’s accredited by PAGCOR.)