Should Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators or POGOs be banned from operating in the country?
That possibility looms large close on the heels of two more high-profile raids by law enforcers on POGOs in two Central Luzon provinces.
In the latest raid on June 6, at least 186 foreign and Filipino workers were rescued from another sprawling POGO complex in Porac municipality in Pampanga.
The complex was reportedly being used for human trafficking, with some of the foreign employees allegedly tortured or sold for sex.
Of the 157 foreign nationals accounted for in the raid, 126 were Chinese, 23 were Vietnamese, four were Malaysians, four were Burmese, and one was Korean. There were also 29 Filipino workers.
The operation mounted by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) was the second high-profile POGO raid in Central Luzon this year.
A crackdown in March on another major gaming hub in Bamban town in neighboring Tarlac province led to its mayor, Alice Guo, being grilled in the Senate about her background and links to the POGO, business, and even aroused suspicion she could be a Chinese spy.
This was the second time the Bamban POGO had been raided, the first was in September 2022.
The raids came amid growing calls especially from some lawmakers to kick out POGOs from the country after several were repeatedly linked to crime syndicates engaged in human trafficking, kidnapping, robbery-extortion, money laundering, online scams, and, lately, even espionage.
The Duterte administration encouraged the entry of POGOs because of their perceived economic impact.
Department of Finance data show that combined taxes collected from POGOs from 2017 to October 2022 reached P53.8 billion: P30 billion by PAGCOR, while P23.8 billion by the Bureau of Internal Revenue.
In 2019, total collected taxes reached ₱14.44 billion. POGO generated ₱7 billion in license fees, according to PAGCOR.
NEDA also reported that, at the same year, POGOs contributed ₱104.5 billion or 0.67 percent of the country’s gross domestic product.
However, these declined thereafter, especially due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last year, despite the decrease in the number of operators, POGO still generated ₱5.2 billion in license fees.
Meanwhile, the BIR reported in October 2022 there were 16,736 Filipino workers employed by licensed POGOs, accounting for 48.87 percent of the total employment in the industry.
But critics have long argued the economic benefits of POGOs in terms of job creation, property sector earnings and revenues for the government are far outweighed by their social cost and involvement in outright criminal activities.
Will the Marcos Jr. administration respond to increasingly strident calls to ban POGOs once and for all?
