Gatchalian pushes ban on Pogos

Sen. Win Gatchalian —Senate PRIB

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian on Thursday prodded his fellow senators to urge President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. to shut down all Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) in the country.

“It is clear that all [Pogos] have brought to the country is nothing but misery. The presence of Pogos has turned out to be useless. It’s time to shut them down,” Gatchalian said as he delivered his report on the findings of the Senate ways and means committee.

Gatchalian also called on Congress to pass a law to curb the regulatory powers of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. because it failed in its mandate to regulate the country’s gambling industry.

Gatchalian, chair of the Senate ways and means committee, also called on the Department of Labor and Employment to study alternative employment to an estimated 20,000 Filipino workers who may be displaced by the closure of the Pogo industry.

He also urged the Bureau of Immigration to revoke all working visas issued to foreign Pogo workers and study the deportation of their alien workers.

But, in a press briefing, Gatchalian said the committee report was signed by only seven of the 18 committee members.

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