{"id":253647,"date":"2020-05-01T04:41:01","date_gmt":"2020-05-01T08:41:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=253647"},"modified":"2020-05-01T04:41:01","modified_gmt":"2020-05-01T08:41:01","slug":"partial-resumption-of-pogo-ops-allowed-in-gcq-ecq-zones-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/05\/01\/partial-resumption-of-pogo-ops-allowed-in-gcq-ecq-zones-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"Partial resumption of POGO ops allowed in GCQ, ECQ zones: Palace"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
FILE: Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque Jr. at the Presidential Guest House in Panacan, Davao City on January 4, 2018. JOEY DALUMPINES\/PRESIDENTIAL PHOTO<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

MANILA<\/strong>\u00a0\u2013 Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) now have the government\u2019s consent to partially operate in areas that are placed under general enhanced community quarantine (GCQ) and enhanced community quarantine (ECQ), Malaca\u00f1ang announced on Friday.<\/p>\n

In an interview with dzMM, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque confirmed that Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chair Andrea Domingo has allowed 30 percent of POGOs\u2019 workforce to report for work despite the threat posed by the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) outbreak.<\/p>\n

\u201cKinakailangang magkaroon ng<\/em>\u00a0testing\u00a0bago makapasok \u2018yung<\/em>\u00a030 percent workforce\u00a0na papasukin. Pero hayaan na ang\u00a0<\/em>Pagcor\u00a0dahil sa kanila namang negosyo iyan. Alam naman po nila ang detalye kung ano ang kanilang papayagan<\/em>\u00a0(The 30 percent of POGOs\u2019 workforce must undergo testing before reporting for work. Let Pagcor decide. They have the details),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque explained that Pagcor has given its nod to the partial resumption of POGOs\u2019 operations since the online gaming industry is considered as business process outsourcing (BPO) firms that are allowed to operate during the implementation of ECQ and GCQ.<\/p>\n

Under the government\u2019s new guidelines, BPOs can operate in areas under ECQ and GCQ so long as they provide temporary accommodation and shuttle services for on-site workers.<\/p>\n

Roque said POGOs, like BPOs, cater to a foreign audience since gambling is done outside the country.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng pagkakaintindi ko, ang\u00a0<\/em>POGO\u00a0ay hindi naman dito ang sugal. Ang sugal po niyan ay\u00a0<\/em>abroad. At ang ginagawa ng mga\u00a0<\/em>POGO centers\u00a0para silang\u00a0<\/em>BPO\u00a0talaga kasi nandito lang ‘yung mga<\/em>\u00a0hardware\u00a0at<\/em>\u00a0software (The way I understand it, the gambling in POGOs is not done here but abroad. POGO centers, like BPOs, only established their hardware and software here),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Roque\u2019s latest statement came following his recent pronouncement that POGOs are on the \u201cnegative list\u201d, which enumerates several sectors that are still prohibited from operating in areas placed under GCQ from May 1 to 15.<\/p>\n

In a text message on Friday, he said the partial operation of POGOs is now allowed, subject to certain conditions.<\/p>\n

\u201cPOGOs are allowed under ECQ and GCQ. And POGOs are part of BPOs. Thirty percent (of their) workforce (are) all subjected to Covid-19 tests, BIR clearance, Pagcor clearance. And proceeds of government collection (will) go to Covid-19 expenditures,\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier said revenues from POGOs could augment the government\u2019s funds to address the Covid-19 outbreak in the country.<\/p>\n

There are 60 licensed POGOs in the Philippines. About 218 POGO service providers in the country have employed 108,914 foreign workers.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Internal Revenue\u2019s target is to collect at least PHP2 billion a month from POGOs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) now have the government\u2019s consent to partially operate in areas that are placed under …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":252612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1145,16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253647","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headline","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\/253647","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=253647"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253647\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253649,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253647\/revisions\/253649"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/252612"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253647"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253647"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253647"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}