Albay 2nd district Rep. Joey Salceda (Ellson Quismorio/ MANILA BULLETIN)

House Committee on Ways and Means chairperson and Albay 2nd district Rep. Salceda said the Marcos administration must find a way of “segregating” legitimate internet gaming licensees (IGLs) from the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) that have been linked to anomalous activities.

“POGO is just a small part of a bigger part called IGL, which is the Internet Gaming Licensees. That’s P43 billion or 43 percent of Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation), P12 million lang ang POGO (POGOs are only P12 million),” Salceda said in an interview right after the State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday, July 22.

“So, ang ibig sabihin niyan (that means), I hope they find a way banning POGO without having to affect the IGLs,” he added.

During his SONA before members of the House of Representatives and the Senate, President Marcos announced the total ban on POGOs in the country.

This pronouncement resulted in a roaring standing ovation from the nearly 2,000 SONA attendees.

Salceda, one of the most staunch defenders of the POGO industry, said there must be a “technical way” in properly determining which is POGO and which is an IGL.

“Hindi na nga nila magawa na ma-differentiate yung legal at tsaka illegal POGO, ‘yun pa kayang legitimate IGL at saka the entire POGO system, some of which are very legitimate,” he stressed.

(They cannot even differentiate between legal and illegal POGO, how worse would it be for legitimate IGL and the entire POGO system, some of which are very legitimate.)

In 2023, Pagcor changed the label and description of POGOs into IGLs——a move seen by many as a response to the barrage of controversies plaguing the POGO industry.

However, Salceda explained that there was a key difference between the two: IGLs were accredited and issued licenses to legally operate, whereas POGOs were those gambling hubs that have yet to undergo the latest and stricter regulations.

“There was really a virtually societal, universal misunderstanding of the entire issue,” the lawmaker noted.

In the end, Salceda said he was hopeful that Marcos “clarified” the announcement of a POGO ban with Pagcor Chairman Alejandro Tengco first because of its impact to the Chief Executive’s budget.

“It will affect his own presidential social fund. It will affect all the other community building activities of Pagcor,” he explained, referring to President Marcos.

Salceda chairs the powerful Ways and Means Committee which oversees matters on the fiscal, monetary, and financial affairs of the national government.