DSWD wants shuttered Pogo buildings converted into shelters

SHUTDOWN A Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub operating behind the town hall of Bamban in Tarlac province has been shut down following a government raid in March due to human trafficking, online scams, and other illegal activities. —RICHARD A. REYES

MANILA, Philippines — The Department of Social Welfare and Development (DSWD) wants to transform the shuttered Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) into shelters for the homeless and rescued women and children.

DSWD chief Rex Gatchalian said this after President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. instructed the ban of Pogo sites in his third State of the Nation Address (Sona).

READ: Marcos: ‘All Pogos are banned!’

“We indicated our desire that, if the government no longer has use for these properties, we are always ready to convert them as shelters,” Gatchalian said in an ambush interview after the post-Sona discussions held in a hotel in Pasay City.

While Gatchalian said there is still space for its residential care facilities, the DSWD still needs more to cater to many of those in need.

“We are always on the lookout for more shelters,” he said.

In Pasay City, a portion of a six-story building that once housed a Pogo facility now serves as a shelter for the homeless.

The repurposed Pogo facility is now a processing center for vagrants brought in from the streets and who the DSWD formally calls “families and individuals in street situations.”

Marcos gave the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation until the end of the year to fully stop Pogo operations.

READ: Raided Pogo in Pasay City now a shelter for homeless

Gatchalian said the DSWD is ready to assist Filipinos who will be unemployed due to Pogo closures, but he noted that many of its employees are foreign workers who are victims of human trafficking.