Senate President Juan Miguel Zubiri on Wednesday denied Chinese Ambassador Huang Xillian’s assertion that he had spread misinformation about Beijing warning its nationals against visiting the Philippines over Chinese-run online gambling operations here.
“I was shocked by the turnaround. I was shocked by the statement of the Eembassy and it’s regrettable because we had several witnesses,” Zubiri said in a virtual interview with reporters.
In a statement issued Tuesday night, the Chinese embassy noted that “China has not placed the Philippines on its blacklist for tourism,” contrary to Zubiri’s report.
After a courtesy call by the Chinese ambassador Tuesday, Zubiri said Huang said the Philippines has been blacklisted for hosting online gambling operations.
He also told the Senate committees on ways and means and public order and illegal drugs that Chinese tourists were being warned against visiting the Philippines.
Faced with the Chinese denial, Zubiri stood his ground and said he would not apologize.
“‘I stand by my statement that he mentioned the word ‘blacklisting.’ It did not come from us. It came from the ambassador of China,” Zubiri said.
“It was he (Huang) who indeed committed a mistake here, not us. We have many witnesses… Maybe [it’s] misinformation. Maybe we were misinformed by thambassador. Possible. So there were witnesses. We were three senators. Maybe, I would not make up stories,” Zubiri said.
Zubiri said they have transcripts of what transpired when the Huang paid a courtesy call to him on Oct. 10.
He noted that the fault lies with the ambassador.
“He mentioned blacklisting. Maybe he made a mistake,” Zubiri said in an online media briefing Wednesday.
He conceded, however, that something might have been “lost in translation,” and that the ambassador may have meant that the Philippines could be blacklisted for hosting Philippine Online Gaming Operators (POGOs) that catered to Chinese nationals.
Zubiri said he will seek a categorical statement from the ambassador on the blacklisting on countries that continue to host online gambling operations that target Chinese gamblers.
In the same hearing, Association of Service Providers and POGOs (ASPAP) spokesperson Michael Danganan said POGO workers were not the only beneficiaries of the online gambling industry.
“Thousand of Filipino families benefit from legit POGOs,” said Danganan. He said these Filipino workers take home the bulk of their incomes to their families who need them.
Danganan said their groups employ roughly 23,000 Filipino workers categorized as either directly-hired or indirectly-hired—a number that could rise in the years to come.
Additional benefits include free accommodations, free meals, and free transportation.
He said the POGO industry has been a huge help in the country’s job generation program especially as economic recovery is in sight.
The 16 government-licensed POGOs and 68 service providers that make up ASPAP currently employ a total of 23,118 Filipinos and 17,130 foreign nationals.
The breakdown of their Filipino workers is as follows: 31.4 percent serve as team leaders or supervisors, administrative assistants, sport-book handlers, kitchen staff, security officers, finance assistants, and accounting assistants; 16 percent work as data entry clerks; 10.5 percent as customer service representatives; and 10 percent as housekeepers. The remainder work as general office staff, company drivers, payment officers, maintenance staff, dealers or presenters, data processors, and security guards.
Earlier, ASPAP appealed to President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. and the country’s lawmakers to factor in the potential job losses that could result from banning the POGO industry in the country.
Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin, who attended the Senate hearing on the budget of the Office of the President, said Malacanang has not yet decided on this issue.
Earlier, Finance Secretary Ben Diokno said the social costs—especially POGO-related crime—outweighed the benefits.
The officer-in-charge of the Office of the Press Secretary, Cheloy Garafil, said the President was monitoring the situation closely.
“Of course, the President is closely monitoring this and as far as the President is concerned, the Philippine National Police is in charge over the issue of crimes related to POGOs,” Garafil said.
The PNP’s Anti-Kidnapping Group reported last month that the number of kidnapping cases involving POGOs increased from January to September.
Its data showed that a total of 17 POGO-related kidnapping cases were reported, compared to 12 incidents from January to December of last year.
This year has also seen one casino-related kidnapping.
In other developments:
• The Department of Justice said the Bureau of Immigration has already canceled the visas of more than 1,400 Chinese nationals working in POGOs without the necessary permits and documents from the government. DOJ spokesperson Jose Dominic Clavano said the cancellation of visas is part of the overall strategy of the government to deal with illegal POGO workers who posed not only a security risk but health problem as well after the department received reports that there are POGO workers infected with sexually transmitted diseases.
• Local businessmen are asking the national government to prioritize peace and safety in the country over financial gains from POGOs. “We should priority safety over revenue. We can focus on more legitimate investments,” said Philippine Chamber of Commerce and Industry (PCCI) president George Barcelon. He noted that even the Chinese government opposes these offshore operations. The group’s chairman, William Co, added that Filipino workers abroad could send home more than $50 billion in the next few years, as opposed to the revenue contribution of only P6 billion from POGOs and the employment of 23,000 workers.
