PRESIDENT Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. is closely monitoring all crimes linked to Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators’ (POGOs) activities in the country, Malacañang assured Wednesday.

“Of course, the President is closely monitoring this and as far as the President is concerned ang PNP [Philippine National Police] po ang in charge dito sa usapin na ito,” Office of the Press Secretary officer-in-charge Cheloy Garafil said in a Palace press briefing.

This, after the Chinese Embassy formally denied the supposed blacklisting of the Philippines for Chinese tourists due to the prevalence of kidnappings and other crimes linked to POGO operations.

In a statement, the Chinese Embassy said reports on Senate President Juan Miguel “Migz” Zubiri’s pronouncement that the Philippines is already “part of a blacklist of tourist sites” as per Chinese Ambassador to the Philippines Huang Xilian is “misinformation.”

Garafil welcomed this clarification, noting that the Philippines shared the Chinese Embassy’s sentiment that tourism is an important component of practical cooperation between China and the Philippines.

“We share the sentiment of the Chinese Embassy in the Philippines that tourism is an important facet to our relationship and we look forward to continuing with that relationship as we continuously welcome our friends from China and we anticipate more of them to come in the months and years ahead,” Garafil said.

Data from the Department of Tourism showed that Chinese nationals accounted for 1.7 million arrivals in the Philippines in 2019.

Huang earlier assured that China is ready to strengthen cooperation with the Philippines on issues related to POGO, reiterating that the Chinese government “firmly opposes and takes tough measures to combat gambling.”

Last month, the Philippine National Police-Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) bared that kidnappings involving POGO personnel spiked from January to September this year, compared to the same period last year.

Citing the latest data, it said a total of 17 POGO-related kidnapping cases were reported compared to 12 incidents from January to December last year.

The Department of Justice in September ordered the shutdown of illegal operations of 175 POGOs and deportation of 3,000 overstaying workers, mostly Chinese nationals, in batches.

Finance Secretary Benjamin Diokno said he was in favor of discontinuing POGOs, noting that the social costs outweigh the revenue.

Diokno said revenues from POGO activities declined to P3.9 billion in 2021 from P7.2 billion in 2020. Philippine News Agency