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MANILA, Philippines — A Filipina who works for a legitimate Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) has asked the House of Representatives not to push measures that would get rid of the industry, saying that it helps a lot of people make ends meet.
During the House committee on labor and employment’s hearing on Wednesday, Jacqueline Adap, an encoder for a Pogo based in Cavite province, said that she hopes lawmakers would be more open-minded to allowing the games to operate.
“I wish they you would be more open-minded, that you won’t close down the games because Pogo has helped many people — not only me, but many others may lose their jobs, I hope this doesn’t happen,” Adap said in Filipino during the committee’s motu proprio probe on the Pogo’s effect on employment.
“Because as of now Pogo is the only job I know that can help me; it is enough for me. If it is shut down, how can I manage, I still have loans to pay and it is Pogo that gives me the way to settle these things,” she added.
Adap told the committee that she has been doing online banking for the Pogo she works with, which includes payments and other online transactions. But, according to her, she would not last for two years with the industry if workers did not have a good relationship with foreign workers.
“Our relationship with foreigners appears good, it’s been two years since I started working within Pogo, and then I would not stay if the relationship between the locals and the foreigners is not good.,” she said.
She also claims they are adequately treated, and have decent living quarters and free meals, and the company even shoulders their laundry expenses.
“So I’m married, and I have a child, but because of Pogo, sir, I am able to build my own home, and send my siblings to school. And we can manage to buy appliances,” she said.
Michael Danganan, another spokesperson of the Association of Service Providers of Pogos (ASPAP), said that the Pogos had been a way for people who might look for jobs abroad to stay within the country with their families.
According to Danganan, ASPAP — an organization set up by legal Pogo companies — has 11,776 direct-hire employees, while 11,342 were indirectly hired. However, he clarified that this does not yet count the numerous jobs supported by Pogos, like the food and beverage industry and other sectors that benefit from Pogo workers.
“These Filipino workers in Pogo have their own experiences in working in other industries. Some of them may have worked overseas because of the lack of opportunity, employment opportunities here in our country, so they took that chance and far from their families, they were employed abroad,” Danganan said.
“They found better opportunities than what they had when they were working abroad so they joined the Pogo industry, they received better salaries as shown by the data from the DOLE,” he noted.
Danganan said people with limited education backgrounds usually go abroad to work in other countries which offer higher pay, but the POGO industry has allowed them to stay within the country as the minimum salary, he said, is at P20,000.
“For example, we have a driver — of course, we do not belittle these members of our employment sector — but for lack of education, they are limited, the opportunities are limited. So what they do is usually go abroad and find employment away from their families. But in the Pogo industry based on numbers, the salaries they are receiving is a minimum of P20,000 — so that’s a lot,” he added.
The House panel sought to identify how much of an impact Pogo has on the country’s labor force — after several industry supporters warned that kicking Pogos out of the country would spark a humanitarian crisis.
There have been new calls to ban POGOs due to their association with criminal activities — like when foreign nationals who were POGO workers were rescued from kidnappers.
READ: POGO shut down after rescue of 43 Chinese
READ: Kidnapped Chinese, 42 other POGO workers rescued in Pampanga — Abalos
However, proponents of the Pogo, like Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda, insisted that the crime incidents stem from illegal Pogos in the country.
READ: Salceda: Total Pogo ban harms economy, gov’t should target illegal ‘actors’
Still, the string of Pogo-related crimes has led several lawmakers to question whether the revenue obtained from the games is enough to justify its continued operations.
READ: POGOs must go amid links to criminal activities — Rep. Abante