Cardinal Ambo on PAGCOR defense of gambling: 'What else will we allow?'

MANILA — Cardinal Pablo Virgilio ‘Ambo’ David did not mince words when he rejected the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.'s position on regulating online gambling, saying the revenues from it do not outweigh the social cost.

Speaking at the 11th Philippine Conference on New Evangelization in Manila, the head of the Catholic Bishops’ Conference of the Philippines said the PAGCOR had written him to defend its stand on keeping online gambling legal.

David has likened addiction to gambling to "modern day slavery."

He said that PAGCOR chief Alejandro Tengco defended regulating online gambling for government revenues.

“Sayang. We could use the money and generate revenues for government. ‘Yun ang reasoning. No matter if it’s very addictive especially for young people,” he said, recounting Tengco's argument.

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“How is that for a reasoning? O ‘di sabi ko ‘gawin niyo na ring ligal ang shabu’. Kasi iligal siya e. Para kumita ang government,” Cardinal David argued.

(So I said, then you should just legalize shabu. It's illegal right now but government could make money from it)

He said the government can just regulate all other sources of addiction if the argument is revenue.

'HOW CAN GOVERNMENT CONTROL DIGITAL NATIVES?'

The Filipino cardinal further raised doubts on PAGCOR’s supposed plan to create a system that will prohibit youth’s access to online gambling.

“Digital natives? Kakayanin mo ‘yan na ma-control in the way they, you know, access any application online? Ewan ko lang. Well, ang sabi ko, ‘I am sorry, but I do not agree that you can regulate something criminal. It is criminal through and through’,” David said.

(You can control digital natives and the way they can access any application online? I don't know. Well, I said, 'I am sorry, but I do not agree that you can regulate something criminal. It is criminal through and through’)

Cardinal David added that addiction to online gambling is “so closely related to addiction to social media” and that everyone is ‘vulnerable” to such.

“How many families have been destroyed by gambling debts? How many young people spend hours scrolling, seeking validations in like and shares, losing the capacity to be present, and losing even their social skills to build natural friendships?” he said.

“Slavery is real, but I have good news for you. If slavery is real, so is the promise of freedom,” Cardinal David emphasized.

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ABS-CBN News has reached out to PAGCOR for comment but they have yet to respond as of posting. We will update this story once they responded.