A legislator on Tuesday called on the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and the Bureau of Internal Revenue to account for and disclose in public the real revenues that Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators has provided to the national treasury.
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, chairman of the House Committee on Dangerous Drugs, said it now appears, with the more than 200 POGOs ordered shutdown by authorities, the much-vaunted billions of pesos projected income from these online gaming firms is just a product of ‘media hype.’
“If I may recall, 46 out of the 58 POGOs licensed by Pagcor are registered local or foreign corporations. Now, the BIR, together with the NBI and PNP, had shut down more than 200 illegal POGOs,” he said.
“The question is: ‘How can the government derive billions of pesos in revenues from these POGOs if only 12 of them are registered firms and could be considered legal to operate in the Philippines?’”
In his planned legislative inquiry into the POGO operations in the country, Barbers said he would dig into who are the accountable and responsible persons that allowed and emboldened these ‘kolorum’ online gaming firms to operate.
Barbers said he would want to know from the Bureau of Immigration and Deportation and the Department of Foreign Affairs on the real number of POGO workers who are now present in the country.
He added he would also ask Department of Labor and Employment on how many of these POGO workers had been issued with work visas and where are they deployed or employed.
“The last, of course, would be the Pagcor and the BIR. Is there any truth on their much-vaunted prophesies of billions of peso revenues out of these POGOs,” he added.
Pagcor chairman Andrea Domingo, earlier said the POGO industry is contributing P20 billion a year on lease payments to the real estate sector.
Domingo added that the industry is also estimated to generate P24 billion in income taxes annually and P1.25 billion in value-added tax monthly from foreign workers who purchase around P12.5 billion a month.
“What chairman Domingo is telling us are estimates or prophesies, nothing more and nothing less. As of last reports published recently in the media, the POGO industry, so far, only generated P200 million in revenues,” Barbers said.