{"id":247009,"date":"2020-03-04T20:26:01","date_gmt":"2020-03-05T01:26:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=247009"},"modified":"2020-03-04T20:26:01","modified_gmt":"2020-03-05T01:26:01","slug":"problem-not-with-pogo-but-people-running-it-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/03\/04\/problem-not-with-pogo-but-people-running-it-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Problem not with POGO but \u2018people running it\u2019: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Speaking to Palace reporters, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the recent controversies besetting the POGO industry stemmed from the irregularities perpetrated by those who are working in the offshore gaming firms. (PCOO File Photo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 The government should go after the erring people who are running the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), instead of focusing on getting rid of the gaming industry, Malaca\u00f1ang said on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

Speaking to Palace reporters, Presidential Spokesperson Salvador Panelo said the recent controversies besetting the POGO industry stemmed from the irregularities perpetrated by those who are working in the offshore gaming firms.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not the POGO itself. It\u2019s the people running it. Then, you change the people, not the system. You improve on the system. You prosecute those involved in the illegal activities,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Panelo\u2019s statement came a day after the Senate agreed to craft a measure that would declare POGOs \u201cillegal\u201d amid the rise in illicit activities connected to the offshore gaming firms.<\/p>\n

Chinese-run POGOs have drawn flak for supposedly violating the country\u2019s laws on labor, tax, immigration, and national security, among others.<\/p>\n

In a privilege speech on Tuesday, Senator Richard Gordon warned of a \u201ccreeping invasion\u201d with the emergence of POGOS and crimes linked to it, such as money laundering, corruption and prostitution.<\/p>\n

Gordon\u2019s worry prompted Senate Minority Leader Franklin Drilon to ask his colleagues to consider crafting legislation that would eventually stop the operations of POGOs in the country.<\/p>\n

Panelo said the Palace would also assess whether declaring POGOs as illegal is good for the country or not.<\/p>\n

He, however, said the final decision would come from President Rodrigo Duterte.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe legislators are tasked to legislate what is good for the country. If they feel that it\u2019s against the welfare of this country, then we will evaluate if that\u2019s true or not. But we will wait for them,\u201d Panelo said. \u201cIf the legislators make it unlawful,\u00a0ibang usapan na \u2018yun<\/em>\u00a0(it\u2019s a different story). Then we will have to wait for the President whether he agrees with it or not.\u201d<\/p>\n

There are around 60 licensed POGOs in the country.<\/p>\n

A moratorium on new licenses for POGOs has been imposed until issues surrounding the operations of online gaming are addressed.<\/p>\n

Amid the mended ties between the Philippines and China, Panelo guaranteed that POGO workers, who are Chinese nationals, are not receiving \u201cblanket protection\u201d from the government.<\/p>\n

He maintained that there are \u201cno sacred cows\u201d under Duterte\u2019s watch.<\/p>\n

\u201cNobody is enjoying any blanket protection from this government. No sacred cows, regardless of who they are,\u201d Panelo said.<\/p>\n

Panelo also vowed that the government would prosecute POGO workers who are involved in illegal activities.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat is important is we respond to whatever allegations of corruption and malpractice. We prosecute. We do not countenance it,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 The government should go after the erring people who are running the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), instead of …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":246899,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-247009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-news","category-news-ph","mauthors-ruth-abbey-gita-carlos","mauthors-philippine-news-agency"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/44"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=247009"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247009\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":247010,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/247009\/revisions\/247010"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/246899"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=247009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=247009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=247009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}