Recto on calls to ban Pogos: ‘No objection’

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto—Senate PRIB

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto said he would have “no objection” to renewed calls to rid the country’s business landscape of Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos), an industry which last year generated around P5 billion in revenues for the government but has increasingly been linked to organized crime.

In an ambush interview on Friday, Recto was asked how he viewed the clamor, particularly in Congress for a permanent ban on Pogos following recent police raids on major gaming hubs suspected of being fronts for human trafficking, money laundering, online scams, and other illegal activities.

“It is within the right of the lawmakers to talk about a ban on Pogos. I have no objection to that,” he said.

“In Batangas, there are no Pogos,” Recto added, referring to his home province where he started his political career as a congressman.

Asked whether he would bring up the issue with the Marcos administration’s economic team, Recto said he planned to advise the group “at the appropriate time” within the year.

‘Doing something else’

“Today, a lot of Pogos are not really Pogos. They are doing something else but we generalize and call on all the Pogos, so that must be studied carefully. I have to consult also with the Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.) as to how much they are earning there,” he said.

In February 2020, when he was still a senator, Recto filed a bill imposing a 30-percent income tax and a 5-percent franchise tax on Pogos.

In 2023, the government earned P5.2 billion from 48 Pogo companies then in operation, according to Pagcor Chair Alejandro Tengco.

READ: POGOs breeding grounds for illegal activities, says Cayetano

In December of that year, the Department of Finance (then headed by Secretary Benjamin Diokno and the National Economic and Development Authority in December 2023) expressed their support to proposals to ban Pogos, citing their negative social impact and relatively small economic contribution.

In a January 2024 interview, however, Tengco rejected calls for a full ban on Pogos, saying it could put about 68,000 Filipinos out of work.