The searched premises of Fortunate South 99 are inside a 5.8-hectare complicated with a complete of 46 buildings, a few of them seen on this picture. —picture by Jun A. Malig
MANILA, Philippines — The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) mentioned on Saturday {that a} former “high-ranking” Cupboard official had been lobbying for granting licenses to unlawful Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) which have been just lately raided.
Pagcor chief Alejandro Tengco mentioned in an announcement that he would reveal the id of the previous Cupboard official in addition to the circumstances that led to the proliferation of unlawful and prison offshore gaming operations within the “correct discussion board.”
“We’re additionally able to reveal the roles of different controversial people behind these prison Pogo enterprises,” Tengco mentioned.
READ: Pogo proliferation factors to potential covert spying in PH – Hontiveros
He additionally urged these investigating the suspicious actions of former licensed Pogos to additional look into the function of “former officers and conduits” in granting licenses to Pogo candidates with “uncertain backgrounds.”
Tengco mentioned unlawful Pogos posed “critical threats to our folks.”
The 2 outstanding Pogos that had been raided and closed this yr had been Zun Yuan Know-how Inc. in Bamban, Tarlac, and Fortunate South 99 Corp. in Porac, Pampanga.
READ: Home invoice filed to ban Pogos, revoke licenses
Each Pogos are dealing with human trafficking instances. Zun Yuan was raided in March and Fortunate South in early June.
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Fee (PAOCC), with help from the Philippine Nationwide Police, led the operations towards the 2 Pogo firms.
At the moment, there are solely 43 licensed Pogos within the nation, down from 298 licensed Pogos in the course of the Duterte authorities, as the present administration continues to clamp down on prison actions of unlawful Pogos.
The continued crackdown on unlawful Pogos adopted studies of human trafficking, scams, torture and kidnapping related to their operations.
Pagcor has not responded to the Inquirer’s requests for different particulars.
Why solely now?
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who’s pushing for a complete ban on Pogos, mentioned he would ask Pagcor to undergo the Senate an official report on the alleged function of the previous Cupboard official.
Gatchalian, nonetheless, was puzzled by the failure of Pagcor officers to deliver up this alleged lobbying by the previous Cupboard official in any of the three earlier Senate hearings led by Sen. Risa Hontiveros that seemed into Pogo-related crimes.
“We discovered about this solely now,” he mentioned. “But it surely’s vital to make this particular person liable if the allegations are true.”
Gatchalian mentioned that he would ask Hontiveros to ask to their subsequent listening to the previous Cupboard official cited by Tengco.
“To be trustworthy, I even have some names, however I might fairly not point out them as a result of I don’t have paperwork (to show their attainable connection),” Gatchalian mentioned in an interview with “Usapang Senado” over radio dwIZ.
He mentioned the names had been simply “relayed” to him and the knowledge was “very uncooked.”
Roque doc
“Let’s simply anticipate the official paperwork to be submitted,” Gatchalian mentioned.
Pressed to elaborate, he identified that the previous Cupboard official was just lately talked about after the raid on the Porac Pogo complicated.
The senator was apparently referring to Harry Roque, who served as spokesperson for former President Rodrigo Duterte. Roque’s identify and signature allegedly appeared in an official doc that was present in one of many buildings owned by Fortunate South.
Roque had beforehand mentioned that he had “no concept” why that doc ended up contained in the raided Pogo constructing, however admitted that he served as counsel for Whirlwind Corp., which authorities believed was linked to Fortunate South.
Hontiveros mentioned she would invite Tengco to attend the subsequent listening to of the Senate committee on ladies, youngsters, household relations and gender equality, which she heads.
“I hope the Pagcor chief deems it the correct discussion board to disclose what he is aware of,” Hontiveros mentioned, noting that Tengco had solely despatched his subordinates to take part within the Senate inquiry.
“Whoever that ex-Cupboard official seems to be, the very fact stays: Pogos are getting used as a authorized cowl for rip-off hubs. The Senate investigation has proven that regardless of having authorized licenses issued by Pagcor, prison actions nonetheless persist in Pogos,” she added.
Personal guidelines violated
The state gaming regulator ought to cease arguing that “unlawful Pogos” are completely different from these working with legitimate government-issued permits, Hontiveros mentioned.
“Your complete business has been the reason for quite a few crimes that endanger ladies, youngsters and essentially the most weak in our society,” she mentioned.
Gatchalian mentioned that Pagcor and its officers must also be held accountable for his or her shortcomings that resulted within the proliferation of Pogo-related crimes.
In response to him, Pagcor itself had violated its personal guidelines when it did not conduct a “probity verify” on Pogos making use of for gaming permits.
Gatchalian cited the case of Hongsheng Gaming Know-how Inc., Zun Yuan’s predecessor, which leased the property that suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo had beforehand owned.
He mentioned Hongsheng incorporator Merlie Pleasure Castro testified that 4 of the 5 registered shareholders of Hongsheng had been market distributors.
Even his personal workers members had been shocked to study that Hongsheng’s registered “incorporators” lived in shanties after they personally checked their addresses, Gatchalian mentioned.
Senators had taken Pagcor officers to process for his or her continued failure to maintain Pogos in verify regardless of a number of regulation enforcement operations that exposed the hyperlink of such services to on-line fraud, human trafficking, prostitution, torture, murders, kidnapping and different critical crimes.
Gatchalian had beforehand identified that the raided Pogos in Metro Manila and Clark in Pampanga, had been in a position to conduct unlawful actions regardless of being below Pagcor’s supposed round the clock monitoring.
Against whole ban
Pagcor opposes a complete ban on Pogos as a result of they bring about in revenues wanted by the federal government.
In 2023, the federal government earned P5.2 billion from the 48 Pogo firms, in line with Tengco.
Pogo revenues account for about 5 p.c or 6 p.c of Pagcor’s revenues.
In response to knowledge from the Division of Finance, the federal government’s tax consumption from Pogos ballooned by 127 p.c to P8.88 billion in 2022 from P3.91 billion in 2021.
Their funds to the Bureau of Inner Income surged regardless of the declining presence of those firms within the nation.
Pogos paid P4.35 billion in withholding tax, P3.65 billion in gaming tax and P806 million in revenue tax. In addition they paid P43.2 million in enterprise tax, P19.42 million in documentary tax stamps, and P9 million in different taxes.
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In response to knowledge obtainable from Pagcor’s web site, there are 38 registered Pogos and 7 extra with provisional licenses as of June 24. —with a report from Inquirer Analysis