Senator Erwin Tulfo on Tuesday, Sept. 16, slammed Meta for its failure to attend a Senate hearing that tackled the proliferation of online gambling content on Facebook, following its delinking from e-wallet platforms.

Tulfo, who chairs the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement, lashed out after a letter from Meta’s Public Policy Manager for the Philippines, Genixon David, was read.

In the letter, Meta expressed regrets over its absence, saying its subject matter experts are based in Singapore and the United States and were unavailable due to prior commitments. The company said it remained “committed to supporting the legislative process” and offered to meet separately with Tulfo’s office to present its policies and enforcement measures on online gambling.

Meeting separately did not sit well with Tulfo, who was keen on asking Meta regarding the shift of online gambling ads to Facebook, particularly with 1xBet, a gambling platform not licensed under the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor).

“No, no, no, committee secretary. Why are they dictating this committee kung kailan sila a-attend? That’s not an excuse,” he said.

“Inalis na nga natin dito sa mga e-wallets, doon na napunta sa kanila. And then may mga links sila doon na pwede ka magsugal, and then they don’t want to attend? (We already removed it from the e-wallets, but it ended up with them. And then they have links there where you can gamble, and now they don’t want to attend?)“ he added.

The senator expressed frustration that while Facebook hosts content from vloggers promoting online gambling links, Meta declined to face the Senate.

Senator Risa Hontiveros agreed with Tulfo and formally moved for the issuance of a show-cause order against the representatives of Meta—which owns and operates social media platforms Facebook, Instagram, Messenger, and Threads.

“That's what we're going to do, to issue a showcase order why they should not be subpoenaed for not attending and for not complying with our request to attend,” Tulfo said.

“This is a hearing. We have a problem here, and this is a national problem. Hindi po ito problem lang sa Metro Manila. Imagine, there’s like 65% of Filipinos who are hooked on online gambling, and that's what we're trying to find a solution right now,” he added.

During the hearing, Ronald Gustilo, national campaigner of the Digital Pinoys civic group, revealed before the committee that there are back-up links of illegal online gambling sites being posted on Facebook groups and other messaging applications like Telegram and Signal.

“Yan na nga ang sinasabi ko. Inimbitahan ko ‘yung Meta, ayaw sumipot dito. Ito ang pinaka-kolokoy yata sa lahat tapos ayaw pa sumipot dito. Kita mo nagmamatigas at gusto niya at his own terms. Kailangan kausapin siya mag-isa (That’s exactly what I’m saying. I invited Meta, but they don’t want to show up here. This is probably the most absurd of all, and yet they still refuse to attend. You can see they’re being stubborn and want it on their own terms. They need to be spoken to directly),” Tulfo ended.

Tulfo also asked Pagcor regarding the delinking of online gambling links from e-wallet platforms such as GCash and Paymaya.

According to Pagcor Asst. Vice President Jessa Mariz Fernandez, it did have an effect when it comes to income.

"Based po ito sa income for the two weeks after the delinking, so nakaranas po ng around 40 to 50 percent decline in income po after po nung delinking from the payment platforms (This is based on the income for the two weeks after the delinking, and they experienced around a 40 to 50 percent decline in income after being delinked from the payment platforms)," she said.

She added that Pagcor is for the strict regulation of the online gambling industry.

Meanwhile, Senator Risa Hontiveros flagged the betting amount that users can place, which can go up to P500,000.

"Hindi lang po 5,000 ang limit na pwedeng itaya. Plus two zeros pa, Mr. Chair. Pwedeng umabot hanggang six digits. P500,000. Pambihira, nakakalula po (It’s not just ₱5,000 that can be wagered. Add two more zeros, Mr. Chair. It can reach up to six digits—₱500,000. Incredible, it’s overwhelming)," she said.

Hontiveros asked the two platforms if they see this as a problem.

For their part, Toff Rada, Head of Corporate Affairs, PayMaya Philippines, Inc., said that not just for online gambling but for any abusive use of their platform, they're against it.

"We're in favor of measures that will curtail that kind of abusive behavior using our platform," he added.

Lawyer Gilbert Escoto, legal chief of G-Xchange, Inc., which operates Gcash, also made the same commitment.

"On the premise given by Hon. Sen. Risa Hontiveros, we recognize that there is a problem. But as Maya said, any abuse or misuse of our payment system is suspended right away," he said.