The Pasig City Council approved on third and final reading a landmark ordinance prohibiting online gambling and Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators or POGO-related operations and services in the city.
All members of the 11th City Council agreed to pass Ordinance No. 49-2022, authored and sponsored by Councilor Simon Romulo Tantoco, who is also the chairman of the Committee on Games and Amusement, on its third and final reading during the council’s regular session on Thursday, Dec. 15.
The anti-gambling ordinance disallows “the operations, applications, and approval of licenses to operate online games of chance, including, but not limited to, online casinos, E-games, online sabong, E-Bingo outlets, online poker, and computer gaming stations.”
It also disallows the “operations of service providers providing technical support” to the aforementioned online games of chance. These include “POGOs and any related business thereof within the territorial jurisdiction of Pasig City.”
The ordinance sets “a period of one year for the cessation of operations of listed operating establishments, providing penalties therefore and for other purposes.”
The copy of the draft ordinance obtained by Manila Bulletin states that the Business Permit and Licensing Department shall “facilitate and monitor the retirement of all listed establishments, to be completed by Jan. 1, 2024.”
“It will be unlawful for owners, operators, and support providers of such establishments to continue operations from the effectivity of the ordinance, and to continue to operate after Dec. 31, 2023," read the ordinance.
Violators of the ordinance will be fined P5,000 or serve an imprisonment period of one year, depending on the discretion of the court.
The draft ordinance cited the “Local Government Code of 1991,” pertaining to the power of the city council to “prohibit certain forms of amusement or entertainment in order to protect the social and moral welfare of the community.”
According to the ordinance, there have been “verified reports of the proliferation of online gaming in Pasig City such as online casinos, e-games, e-bingo outlets, and computer gaming stations.”
“In order to promote the objectives of the City Government of Pasig and to repress the evils of online gaming for chance, which undermines the social, moral, and economic growth and development of our society, and which has proven to be inimical to Pasig City and its constituents, to the morals and to the safety as well as security of those living in the city, especially in light of the recent spate of abduction cases involving employees of the establishments and the social costs in general of online gambling, it is highly imminent that the City Government of Pasig must act on the disallowance of these kinds of establishments to curb its detrimental effects,” the ordinance stated.
During the City Council’s special session last Dec. 7, other members of the Council expressed their support for the ordinance and passed it on second reading. Councilor Volta delos Santos said the ordinance “may help save lives, especially of the youth.”
As of this writing, Pasig City Mayor Vico Sotto has not signed the ordinance.
In an interview with ANC, Tantoco clarified that the ordinance covers only online gambling activities. Face-to-face operations such as sabong and lotto are not included in the prohibitions.
Interest groups from the gambling industry have reportedly lobbied against the passage of the ordinance with some even offering an allegedly “hefty amount of cash,” the councilor admitted, but he declined to disclose the exact amount and other details.
“In government, unfortunately things like this happen. But my message to them is really ‘my reputation is not for sale’. I hope I get that message across,” Tantoco said.
The status of POGOs in the country, the conditions of POGO workers, and the police raids on POGO-related establishments have sparked debates on online gambling with some senators calling for investigations.
Malacañang said that President Marcos is closely monitoring the issue of POGOs.
POGO-related crimes such as kidnappings have mostly occurred in cities in Metro Manila that host many POGO businesses, according to data gathered by the Philippine National Police-Anti-Kidnapping Group (PNP-AKG) and disclosed last September.