MANILA – (UPDATE) Tycoon Roberto Ongpin on Wednesday offered to donate his 49-percent stake in gaming café operator PhilWeb Corp. worth P20-billion to regulators to save close to 6,000 people from losing their jobs.

In a letter to Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) chairperson Andrea Domingo, Ongpin said he received five bids for his 53.76-percent stake in PhilWeb, but could not sell it since she had shut the door on renewing the company’s license to operate.

The remaining 4.7 percent of his 53.67-percent stake will be donated to the Ateneo de Manila University JVO Scholarship Fund, Ongpin said.

Keeping PAGCOR’s proposed stake in PhilWeb at 49 percent would ensure that it would not be subjected to further regulation as a government company, he added.

President Rodrigo Duterte has singled out Ongpin as among the “oligarchs” he wanted to destroy. He also declared at the start of his term on June 30 that he wanted online gambling stopped.

“This has not been an easy decision for me to make, but I can only face reality. It is not easy to lose P20 billion of your net worth in two weeks time… but it is clear I have no other choice,” Ongpin said.

Domingo told ABS-CBN News the Pagcor board would discuss Ongpin's offer 'at the soonest possible time' and would seek guidance from the President.

Ongpin said PhilWeb’s market capitalization was at P20 billion before Duterte attacked him in an August 3 speech at the presidential palace. The businessman had likened it to be being “struck by lightning.”

PhilWeb’s license expired on August 10 leaving 700 of its employees and 5,000 others who run e-Games sites out of work.