The Bureau of Internal Revenue’s move to trace the number of Chinese nationals working in online gaming business in the country is a “good measure,” the Palace said on Monday after the BIR required foreign- and local-based offshore gaming operators (POGOs) to register with the tax agency.
“That’s a good measure to determine exactly how many Chinese nationals are here in violation of our laws. From my point of view, the move of BIR is a good thing,” Presidential Spokesman Salvador Panelo said in a Palace press briefing.
“I think they really want to determine the number of [Chinese] nationals because that’s connected to the declaration of income for us to collect the right amount of corporate tax,” he added.
In a statement on Sunday, the BIR said the registration of POGOs would now be required for the renewal of their license to operate from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
“We want to trace these Chinese nationals employed by these gaming operators. They allowed us to join the task force because we are asking data from Immigration and DOLE on the list of these foreign nationals,” BIR Deputy Commissioner Arnel Guballa said in the statement.
According to Guballa, the implementation of the Revenue Memorandum Circular 78-2018 gave the tax agency “more teeth” over online gaming operations in the country. It also effectively reinforced RMC 102-2017.
Under RMC-No 102-2017, the online activity is sufficient to constitute doing business in the Philippines. Thus, a foreign corporation engaged in POGO is considered as Resident Foreign Corporation engaged in business in the Philippines and not a Nonresident Foreign Corporation.
With this, the BIR said it already tapped the Department of Labor and Employment, the Bureau of Immigration, and the Department of Finance to observe the influx of Chinese nationals working in the online gaming scene.
Last month, the Palace allayed concerns the apparent surge of Chinese workers in the country would diminish job opportunities for Filipinos.
Even after he admitted it as a “reality,” Panelo argued that the efflux of Chinese nationals in the country was because of the supposed shortage in Filipino manpower in the construction industry.
But he stressed that those who would enter the country through lawful means must be a cause of alarm.
Last November, President Rodrigo Duterte told government officials to be cautious in deporting Chinese nationals who illegally worked in the country.
Earlier that month, the Bureau of Immigration deported at least 36 Chinese nationals who were caught illegally working in online gambling dens and in shopping malls in Metro Manila.
In that same month, the DOLE reported there were about 115,652 foreign tourists, including 51,000 Chinese nationals, who ended up as workers in the country in 2015 to 2017.
On top of that, over 119,000 have been given special working permits, most of whom are working as POGOs, excluding illegal workers.
The BI also noted that 393 foreign nationals were arrested in last year, including 304 Chinese nationals for overstaying or working without permit.