Tightened rules for POGO recruiters urged
GOVERNMENT should tighten its rules covering recruiters for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and stop them from poaching workers already hired by competitors, Albay 2nd District Rep. Joey Salceda said Wednesday.
Salceda said the recent controversy involving POGOs was not about kidnapping. He said it was about 200 workers already working for a POGO in Angeles City brought to Pasig City.
“Ano ba yung sinasabi nila na criminality? Ang nangyari lang dyan, may isang POGO, pinayreyt (pirated) yung workers dyan. Di na nga kasi nagpapalabas ng Mandarin-[speaking] workers [ang China]. So nung pinayreyt nung headhunter, nung recruiter, sinumbong. Syempre mga POGO workers dahil may batas sa China na bawal kang magsugal whether inside or outside China…sasabihin [nila], I was kidnapped,” he told reporters at the Kapihan sa Manila Bay forum.
“It is human trafficking…’Hoy, kayo lahat, dun tayo, P2,000 a day dun, dyan P1,500 lang’. Di nagpuntahan na. E sinumbong ng isa. Saan ka nakakita na 200 ang kinidnap?… Tingnan mo nangyari sa Pasig at sa Angeles. Paano mangyayari na 200 nasa loob at ayaw palabasin daw. Nireklamo kasi nung kinunan, nung inagawan. Ikaw ba naman, inagawan ka ng asawa mo, hindi ka magrereklamo?” he said.
Salceda said the unsavory reputation of POGOs are due to the following three interlocking problems of illegal POGOs that are not sanctioned by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor), illegal working aliens, and unscrupulous recruiters.
The solution, he said, is to tighten the enforcement of rules involving POGOs by keeping them in specific areas so that any POGO operation outside these POGO-specific areas is automatically considered illegal.
“Ringfence them and enforce the law. Keep them where they should be. If you’re outside POGO, you’re in flagrante delicto. Ibig sabihin may kasalanan ka kaagad, iligal ka. Pag ikaw ay isang POGO na nasa labas halimbawa ng isang zone for POGO like CEZA (economic zone), then you’re considered illegal immediately para easier to enforce,” Salceda stressed.
During the pandemic, POGOs brought in P32 billion a year to the Philippines, said the House Ways and Means Committee chairman.
He said POGO revenues, including the 25% income tax from POGO workers regardless of nationality, are expected to be higher this year.
However, he said, because the Philippines has one of the most restrictive and brutal POGO laws, they are are moving to other countries like Cambodia.
Salceda said the moral option of government is to regulate and tax gambling.
“It is not a state-sponsored activity. It is an activity that is enabled and empowered because of changes in technology, because of the intrinsic ambivalence of human character—our capacity for good and propensity for evil, which is gambling. Therefore what are our moral options? The moral option is to regulate and tax,” he stressed.
