The national government should heed the call of business groups who recently renounced the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) industry, said avid anti-gambling advocate and Manila 6th district Rep. Bienvenido Abante, Jr.
On Tuesday, Oct. 25, the Management Association of the Philippines (MAP), Makati Business Club (MBC), and Foundation for Economic Freedom (FEF) issued a joint statement condemning POGOs and expressing support for the Department of Finance’s (DOF) call to phase out the industry.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2022/10/25/biz-groups-call-for-complete-phaseout-of-pogo/
"This joint statement makes it clear that Big Business believes the downsides of the POGO industry make it a liability––not an asset––in our country's efforts to attract investments, to boost confidence in the Philippine banking system, and to foster Philippine-China economic relations,” Abante said on Wednesday, Oct. 26.
Abante added that the Congressional inquiries into POGOs have “opened the eyes of our business leaders to the pros and cons of the POGO industry".
"To argue that we need the revenues generated from POGOs (and PAGCOR for that matter) is to admit the helplessness of the national leadership and surrender in bended knees to the rule of the unarmed enemy of society called gambling,” he concluded.
The pastor-turned-solon has filed House Bill (HB) 5082, which prohibits all POGO operations in the Philippines.
To Abante, the continued operation of POGOs serves as “a public exhibition and confession of frustration over, and inability to properly address, our pitiful national economic condition".
Meanwhile, on the other end of the spectrum, the Filipino workers group “Pinoy sa POGO” described the business groups’ renunciation of POGOs as “elitist” and “anti-poor".
Specifically, they cited the social cost of massive unemployment that would result from a POGO industry shutdown.
READ: https://mb.com.ph/2022/10/26/pinoy-pogo-workers-call-biz-groups-elitists-anti-poor/