A group of service providers and Philippine offshore gaming operators on Tuesday, October 11 told the Senate that more Filipinos are joining the POGO industry and could soon overtake the number of foreign workers currently employed in the sector.

Association of Service Providers and POGOs (ASPAP) spokesperson Michael Danganan disclosed this during the ongoing hearings of the Senate Ways and Means committee hearings on the POGO industries saying members have been hiring more Filipino workers in the past few years.

“Sa experience natin dito sa industriya, as the years go by, ‘yung mga posisyon po ay nafi-fill up po ng mga Filipino workers (Our experience here in the industry as the years go by, Filipino workers are filling up positions),” said Danganan.

“Lumiliit ang agwat ng mga bilang ng mga foreign workers kumpara dun sa mga Filipino workers (The nmber of foreign workers in the POGO industry is getting smaller compared to the Filipino workers),” he added.

ASPAP is composed of 16 PAGCOR-licensed POGOs and 68 service providers (SPs). They currently employ a total of 23,118 Filipinos and 17,130 foreign nationals.

Danganan said Filipinos’ ability to quickly adapt has contributed to the rising percentage of Filipino workers in the POGO industry because most of them are still young.

“Nakukuha na po ng mga Pilipino ang mga key positions dito sa industriya (More Filipinos are getting key positions in the industry),” he said adding that Filipinos are currently employed in different capacities, such as translators, engineers, and project managers.

Asked by Senate Ways and Committee chair Sen.Sherwin Gatchalian if locals were benefiting from technology transfer in the industry, the ASPAP answered in the affirmative.

“Yung mga service providers po, kailangan ng POGO so sa pagbibigay ng serbisyo dun sa POGO, ‘yung mga kompanyang yan nagha-hire ng mga tao, kasama po ang mga Filipino diyan para po maserbisyuhan po ang pangangailangan ng mga operators (the service providers are needed by POGO so in giving service to POGO companies, they hire people and that includes Filipinos),” Danganan said.

But Sen. Grace Poe, in questioning the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), found out that only 11 percent or 2, 218 out of the 19,726 employees of SPs are Filipinos.

And of the P81.9-billion income of PAGCOR in 2019, only P5.7-billion were remitted from POGOs.

Poe also dispelled unfounded fears of massive job losses in case POGOs are shut down in the country, saying many other industries can be strengthened to generate employment for Filipinos.

“Iyong sinasabing unemployment, hindi natin ‘yan minamaliit, lahat ng trabaho ay importante para sa ating mga kababayan (The unemployment that they were talking about, we’re not belittling the contribution as all jobs are important for our people),” Poe said.

“Pero may ibang mga industriya naman na pwedeng suportahan ng ating gobyerno para matumbasan kung hindi man mahigitan pa ang mawawala dahil dito sa ganitong uri ng negosyo (But there are other industries that our government can support to offset, or possibly exceed whatever losses we could have in these kind of businesses),” she said.