President Rodrigo Duterte says he will not stop or suspend the operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators in the country because the money from it can be used to fight the coronavirus and finance other government programs.
He has also shrugged off allegations of money-laundering to finance illegal activities in the country, including the claim that the money will be used to support terrorism, saying he is not in favor of shutting down the POGOs because the government needs the money they are generating.
Meanwhile, the Anti-Money Laundering Council says there is an increasing level of threat of money-laundering and other fraudulent activities with the proliferation of Internet-based casinos in the country.
This conclusion was contained in the AMLC’s study, “Understanding the Internet-Based Casino Sector in the Philippines: A Risk Assessment,” released Tuesday.
The study was conducted as the growing POGO sector may pose a potential threat and may increase the risk of money-laundering.
“… There is an increasing level of threat to money-laundering and other fraudulent activities. The number of investigations involving domestic Internet-based casino operators and service providers is growing. From 2017 to 2019, the recorded casino-kidnapping-related incidents totaled 63 cases,” AMLC said.
President Duerte has repeatedly rejected a proposal to suspend the POGOs despite the alleged irregularities linked to their operations, such as money laundering, corruption, illegal recruitment, and human trafficking.
“I assure you, I assure you that every centavo earned from the gaming supervised by PAGCOR is accounted for. There is no corruption there and I will not allow it,” Duterte said.
He says there is no evidence of bank deposits and no proof of money-laundering activities in connection with the POGOs.
“We are not justifying it. We are just saying it is allowed because we need the funds, but the speculation of the senators that there is laundering, we don’t have,” Duterte said.
The President even suggested that he wanted the POGOs legalized if there were no legal impediments.
“If there is no legal impediment, I want it legalized. If they can pass a law about POGO, fine, go ahead. Supervise it by law. But not us.”
Duterte even boasted that nobody approached him to legalize POGOs, and not even a congressman came to him to talk about legalizing the POGOs.
“You can ask the congressman or any senator or congressman in connection with the budget or whatever or to ask for a favor. If you can produce one mouth to say that I violated the statement, I will tender my resignation tomorrow,” he told reporters.
Duterte also said he could not prohibit the Chinese from entering the country. A vast majority of POGO workers are Chinese nationals.
“We cannot bar Chinese nationals from entering the country because they allow us to enter China also and even work in Hong Kong,” he said. With Julito G. Rada
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