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An Anti-POGO bill at the Senate proposes prohibiting the “conduct or offer [of] offshore gaming within the Philippine territory, exclusively to offshore authorized players” as well as the recruitment and training of potential POGO workers.

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<p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">MANILA — Although an executive order banning Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators is welcome, the country still needs a law to make the ban clear and comprehensive, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order No. 74 this week to formalize the ban he announced at his State of the Nation Address last July.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">“While I laud the aims of the Executive Order, at nagpapasalamat din para sa reintegration program para sa mga displaced workers, may mga bagay pa rin sa EO na hindi malinaw,” Hontiveros said in a statement.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">(While I laud the aims of the Executive Order and we are thankful that there will be a reintegration program for displaced workers, there are some things in the EO that are still not clear)</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><br/></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/news/2024/11/8/marcos-issues-eo-officially-banning-pogos-1601">READ: Marcos issues EO officially banning POGOs</a></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">Quoting from the EO, Hontiveros noted that the ban “excludes online games of chance conducted in PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.)-operated casinos, licensed casinos, or integrated resorts with junket agreements,” which she said could be taken to mean that accredited casinos can host POGOs — online gaming services that cater to gamblers abroad.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">She added that the ban also seems to exempt operations in economic zones like the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport (APECO) since these are not under the supervision of PAGCOR.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><a href="https://news.abs-cbn.com/regions/2024/11/8/malaca-ang-orders-cagayan-special-economic-zone-adhere-to-pogo-ban-746">Malacañang orders Cagayan Special Economic Zone: Adhere to POGO ban</a></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">“What this only underscores is that we need a clear law to move forward with a meaningful, clear, unequivocal, and comprehensive ban,” Hontiveros said.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><br/></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><strong>Anti-POGO bill</strong></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">An Anti-POGO bill at the Senate proposes prohibiting the “conduct or offer [of] offshore gaming within the Philippine territory, exclusively to offshore authorized players” as well as the recruitment and training of potential POGO workers.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">The bill also seeks to amend the Anti-Money Laundering Act to make operating and financing POGOs “unlawful activity” subject to monitoring and reporting requirements.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">If passed into law, the bill will also revoke all POGO licenses and cancel the work permits and visas of POGO personnel </p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">Hontiveros said she will make sure that gaps and loopholes in the bill, which is pending second reading, will be addressed.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">A similar bill has been pending at the House Commitee on Games and Amusements since 2022.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">Bayan Muna meanwhile called EO74 long overdue and should be a “wake-up call for the government to pursue genuine national industrialization instead of relying on dubious industries like POGOs.”</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">POGOs were touted during the pandemic lockdowns as a source of government funding for social services but cases of torture, human trafficking and scam operations at some of the offshore gaming hubs has turned public sentiment and government policy against them.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><p style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal">&quot;The investigation should not stop with the ban. We must hold accountable those who allowed these criminal operations to flourish at the expense of our people and national sovereignty,&quot; former Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said, referring to probes by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and in Congress.</p><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><br/></div><div style="margin-bottom:0px;line-height:normal;min-height:15px"><strong>RELATED VIDEO</strong></div><div><span class="fr-video fr-deletable fr-fvc fr-dvb fr-draggable" contenteditable="false" draggable="true"><iframe width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/mMPJwl2AU1w?&amp;wmode=opaque&amp;rel=0" frameBorder="0" allowfullscreen="" class="fr-draggable"></iframe></span><br/></div>

<p>An Anti-POGO bill at the Senate proposes prohibiting the “conduct or offer [of] offshore gaming within the Philippine territory, exclusively to offshore authorized players” as well as the recruitment and training of potential POGO workers.</p>

Hontiveros: Law needed to make POGO ban clear and comprehensive

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Hontiveros: Law needed to make POGO ban clear and comprehensive

ABS-CBN News

Published November 09, 2024 11:38 AM PHT

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Updated November 09, 2024 11:51 AM PHT

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Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators

Risa Hontiveros

Carlos Isagani Zarate

Senate

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