Deport foreign POGO workers by year-end, PAGCOR told
A PHILIPPINE senator on Wednesday asked the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) to come up with a complete list of foreign nationals working in Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs) and to ensure their deportation by the end of the year.
“I want to account and monitor them because if we don’t account their whereabouts, what will happen to these foreign nationals who worked in POGOs after their licenses (or visas) have been canceled after the deadline has arrived?” Senator Rafael “Raffy” T. Tulfo told a hearing looking into Philippine President Ferdinand R. Marcos, Jr.’s ban on these gambling outfits.
The President declared a ban on POGOs in his third address to Congress, ordering the state regulator to ensure these companies wind down operations by the end of the year.
He had also asked the Department of Labor and Employment to find new jobs for Filipino POGO workers.
Based on PAGCOR data from last month, there are 28,462 Filipinos and 28,421 foreigners working in POGOs
“If we don’t audit or monitor them, there will be a big possibility that they will get into illegal activities such as drug dealing, kidnapping, robbery, among others,” Mr. Tulfo said.
Congress during Mr. Duterte’s term passed a law taxing POGOs to legalize them, despite concerns about the ensuing social costs. Chinese President Xi Jinping had asked him to ban their operations.
Philippine authorities have been raiding POGOs linked to crimes like human trafficking.
At the weekend, authorities arrested 162 foreign nationals working at an alleged scam farm, including 83 Chinese, 70 Indonesian, two Taiwanese, six Burmese and a Malaysian, during the raid on Saturday, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission said in a statement on Sunday.
“I wanted by the end of this year, they are all fully accounted for and have been deported,” the senator said. — John Victor D. Ordoñez