Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III on Tuesday, October 11 scored the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) for giving their operations credibility despite the fact that it has been prohibited in China.
Pimentel pointed this out during the continuation of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means on the economic impact of POGO after PAGCOR officials disclosed that they have issued 34 “offshore gaming licenses” to allow POGOs to operate under the authority and regulations of PAGCOR.
According to PAGCOR officials, they are unsure on how many of those 34 licensees have operations or electronic servers based in the Philippines.
PAGCOR explained that offshore gaming licenses allow POGOs to avail of “service providers” who deliver support services such as marketing, customer service, IT support and back-office related services.
“Bakit tayo nangialam pasa ganung negosyo? Na walang ka relevance relevance para sa Pilipinas (Why did we involve ourselves in that kind of business? Which doesn’t even have any relevance for the Philippines),” Pimentel said during the hearing, addressing PAGCOR.
“Hindi ko na nakikita ang katuturan kung bakit nai-involve ang Republika ng Pilipinas sa isang activity na hindi maganda ang reputasyon—sugal na ang target niya mga players sa mga lugar na bawal ang sugal tapos wala siyang ni-locate na kahit ano sa Pilipinas, kahit servers niya wala sa Pilipinas. Ang kelangan lang niya lisensya ng Republika ng Pilipinas, (I don’t see any reason why the Philippines should be involved in an activity that doesn’t have a good reputation. Gambling that targets players from places where gambling is prohibited and are not located in the Philippines, even servers are not here in Philippines),” he said.
“Tapos pumapayag tayo na gamitin lang ang ating reputasyon dahil binigyan natin ng lisensya dahil legal na siya, lisensyado na siya (Then we are agreeing that we allow them to use our reputation just because we give them license because they are now legal, licensed,” he added.
“I hope naiintindihan ng PAGCOR ang point ko. Kaya ko rin naiintindihan yung one objectons ni Sec Diokno of reputational risks (I hope PAGCOR understands my point. That’s why I also understand the objections of (Finance) Secretary (Benjamin) Diokno on reputational risks,” Pimentel said.
Pimentel then requested the committee to direct the PAGCOR Board of Directors to attend the next scheduled hearings to shed light on the issue.
“Are we allowing them to use our ‘reputation’ to make them legal?” Pimentel pointed out.