A bill recently filed by House Minority Leader Benny Abante Jr. seeks to declare the whole country a “no-POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations) zone,” prohibiting the operations of an industry the bill calls a “social menace and a source of unimaginable corruption.”
House Bill Number 6701 or the Anti-POGO Act of 2020, expressly prohibits the “conduct of online games of chance or sporting events via the internet using a network and software or program, exclusively to offshore authorized players, within Philippine territory.”
“The POGO industry has made a mockery of our anti-money laundering, immigration and tax laws.”
The prohibition covers the following acts: (1) facilitation of any offshore gaming thru any means or device within Philippine territory; (2) acceptance of any form of betting for purposes of offshore gaming operations; (3) acting as a service provider for offshore gaming operations in the Philippines; (4) creation of a POGO hub in the Philippines; (5) establishment of a gaming laboratory in the Philippines or providing services as a gaming laboratory; (6) possession of gaming paraphernalia; and (7) aiding in, protecting or abetting, the conduct of any act or activity prohibited or declared illegal under the measure.
HB No. No. 6701 defines POGOs as “any person/entities in the Philippines who will either conduct offshore gaming operations themselves or engage the services of service providers.”
A POGO hub, on the other hand, is defined as “a complex which houses any of the operations in the Philippines, as well as other logistical, administrative and support services for offshore gaming operations.”
The bill, if passed, would revoke all existing licenses given by the government to POGOs currently operating in the country.
According to Abante, a longtime anti-gambling advocate, the measure also creates an Inter-Agency Task Force-POGOs (IATF-POGOs) that will be tasked to administer and implement the provisions of the Anti-POGO Act.
The task force will be chaired by the Secretary of the Department of Justice, with the Secretary of Department of the Interior and Local Government as vice chairperson.
Members of the task force include the heads of the Department of Finance, Department of Information, Communication and Technology, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation , Securities and Exchange Commission, and the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
Those found violating the measure could be fined between P100,000 to P300,000 and be imprisoned between four to six years for the first offense; fined P200,000 to P500,000 pesos and be imprisoned between six to eight years for the second offense; and fined P5 million to P10 million and be imprisoned between seven to 10 years for the third offense.
The measure points out that the POGO industry “has made a mockery of our anti-money laundering, immigration and tax laws” and “has been a source of untold criminal offenses and heinous crimes related to the conduct of such operations.”
“Most of all, it has displaced hard-working Filipino people in favor of foreign workers. It has dissipated the energy and resources of our people and that there is a need to effectively combat this social menace because of its increasing danger to the State and its citizens.”