Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Alejandro Tengco stood his ground before congressmen Wednesday, Aug. 20 that regulation is still the way to go regarding online gambling.

This, after Senior Deputy Minority Leader Caloocan City 2nd district Rep. Egay Erice likened the government’s regulation of online gambling to a hypothetical regulation of prostitution.

The exchange between Tengco and Erice--supposed friends--took place during the Pagcor briefing before the House Committee on Appropriations and in line with discussions on the P6.793-trillion National Expenditure Program (NEP).

"Hindi ko lang po kasi maintindihan yung reasoning at logic na (I can't understand the reasoning at logic that) because we cannot control the illegal online gambling, we'll just have to compete with them. And it's all over the world," Erice said during his interpellation of attending Pagcor officials led by Tengco.

"Yung prostitution po all over the world. Ngayon, po dito sa ating bansa may prostitution. OK ba sa inyo na dahil sa kikita tayo, i-legalize na lang natin (Prostitution exists all over the world. Now, here in our country, there is prostitution. Is it okay with you that, just because we can profit from it, let's just legalize it) so that we can compete, we can get revenue from prostitution...It's the same logic," said the returning solon in the 20th Congress.

Tengco replied: "I am not in favor of that."

The Pagcor boss suggested that illegal activities would only grow if government doesn't act on it. "Indirectly we are competing with the illegals and I am of the belief--and there is a study that will back up my belief, the illegals will truly intensify their operations."

Erice then simplified his argument, and said that Filipinos were being made to choose between a illegal act and a government-sanctioned act, but the same one nonetheless.

"Wag kayong magpasipsip ng dugo sa mga iligal, pasipsip kayo ng dugo sa gobyerno. Ganun po ba? (Don’t let yourselves be drained of blood by illegal activities, let the government drain your blood instead. Is that it?)" he further asked his friend Tengco.

"Well I said na yung pananaw ko po kasi (that my view was) coming from a different angle," Tengco said.

"So if I will say...I agree with you, but in terms of my position, I still believe [that] regulating online gaming, stricter online gaming regulations will hopefully neutralise the ills that you are talking about," he told Erice.

"So I respect your position, but sa ganang amin po ng Pagcor, bilang regulador, at gayun din naman ang mandate being to regulate the industry (but on the part of the Pagcor, as the regulator, and with our mandate to regulate the industry), my position does not change," Tengco added.

Pagcor is an income-generating agency of government.

During Wednesday's hearing, Pagcor reported that it voided the payment of P180 million worth of winnings to underage individuals and government workers from January to June 2025.

Tengco said this stemmed from Pagcor's guidelines to the licensed online gambling platforms to ensure that only those 21 years old and above can play.

Among the safeguards imposed on online gambling firms is requiring the player to submit a valid government identification card. But this doesn't mean that their system can't get fooled from time to time, Tengco said.

“Minsan nasisingitan nung fake ID nakakalusot po yung ilang kabataan but I believe hindi po malaking porsyento ito pero nahuhuli din po dahil may secondary layer po kami at ito’y nais kong ipaabot sa lahat, hindi po namin binabayaran ang makikita at mahuhuli naming underage (less than 21 years old), prohibited person, government employee hindi po namin binabayaran yung kanilang winnings kung nakita po namin na hindi sila sumunod sa proseso,” he said.

(Sometimes fake IDs slip through and some youth manage to get past, but I believe this is not a large percentage. They still get caught because we have a secondary layer of screening, and I want to make this clear to everyone: we do not pay out winnings to those we find and catch who are underage (less than 21 years old), prohibited persons, or government employees. We do not pay their winnings if we find that they did not follow the proper process.)