IT IS encouraging to note the number of legitimate Internet Gaming Licensees (IGLs), previously known as Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), in the country has decreased to 42 from 46.
This is a big plunge from the 300 the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Council said were illegally operating in the country.
PAGCOR chairman Alejandro Tengco said in a statement despite the lower number of IGLs and service providers today “we are proud to say we collect more fees from them compared with the previous administration (record).”
According to PAGCOR, each IGL pays a guarantee fee of $100,000 monthly or 2 percent of their gross gaming revenues, whichever is higher. They also pay between $25,000 and $100,000 monthly in administrative fees, depending on the size of their operation.
Another encouraging point is PAGCOR’s expectation to generate P6.5 billion from the IGLs, lower than the P7.9 billion collected from licensees in 2023.
The agency earlier said outlawing IGLs could cause more harm than good amid calls to ban POGO operations following successive raids against POGO hubs in the country’s different regions.
Instance, authorities in March rescued more than 800 Filipinos and foreign nationals at a big POGO hub in Bamban, Tarlac after it was raided for alleged illegal activities that included crypto and love scams.
Elsewhere, in another POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga, authorities also rescued 158 Chinese, Vietnamese, and Malaysians.
But we are as restless, if concerned — the term used by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian to describe what was disclosed by PAGCOR chief Tengco was “deeply alarming” — that a former high ranking government official was implicated in the POGO activities by trying “to facilitate the grant of gaming licenses to some of the illegal POGOS” recently raided and found engaged in illegal activities.
That revelation raised a chorus from senators who called on PAGCOR to reveal the identity of the former high ranking government official, with Senate President Francis Escudero leading the call, underlining the need to identify the official if the former official violated any laws.
“PAGCOR should name the ‘official!’ If not, [the] committee chaired and headed by Senators [Risa] Hontiveros and [Sherwin] Gatchalian should unmask this official–so that not all ‘former high ranking Cabinet officials’ will be looked upon with suspicion– and find out if he/she violated any laws,” Escudero said.
Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III echoed a correspondent standpoint on PAGCOR’s revelation, stressing PAGCOR should reveal the identity of the person to be fair to all former Cabinet members and the person involved can defend himself.
Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros, who’s been leading the Senate investigation into the raided POGOs, stressed the need for PAGCOR chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco to attend the hearing himself to “reveal what he knows.”
The authorities should go beyond press statements and voice clips since these POGOS, as Hontiveros aptly out it “cause numerous crimes that put women, children, and vulnerable people at risk.”