{"id":253753,"date":"2020-05-02T05:58:32","date_gmt":"2020-05-02T09:58:32","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/?p=253753"},"modified":"2020-05-02T05:58:32","modified_gmt":"2020-05-02T09:58:32","slug":"no-favoritism-in-allowing-pogos-partial-ops-palace","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/2020\/05\/02\/no-favoritism-in-allowing-pogos-partial-ops-palace\/","title":{"rendered":"No favoritism in allowing POGOs’ partial ops: 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 Malaca\u00f1ang on Saturday denied that the national government is playing favorites when it allowed the partial operations of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country amid the coronavirus disease 2019 (Covid-19) pandemic.<\/p>\n

During the Laging Handa program aired on state-run PTV-4, Presidential Spokesperson Harry Roque maintained that POGOs are allowed to operate in areas under enhanced community quarantine (ECQ) and general community quarantine (GCQ) because they are part of the business process outsourcing (BPO) sector.<\/p>\n

\u201cWala pong favoritism diyan (<\/em>There is no favoritism there).\u00a0<\/em>On the contrary, the equal protection clause provides that all those similarly situated must be treated alike. So\u00a0dahil isang klaseng\u00a0<\/em>BPO\u00a0ang<\/em>\u00a0POGO, kinakailangang mapagbuksan din sila,\u00a0<\/em>be it ECQ or GCQ (Since POGO is a kind of BPO, they should operate, be it in areas under ECQ or GCQ),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

The national government has allowed 30 percent of POGOs\u2019 workforce to report for work during the ECQ and GCQ in the country.<\/p>\n

ECQ, which is more stringent quarantine than GCQ, is implemented in Metro Manila, Central Luzon, except Aurora; Calabarzon; Benguet; Pangasinan; Iloilo province; Cebu province; Bacolod City; and Davao City.<\/p>\n

GCQ, meanwhile, is imposed in all low-risk and moderate-risk areas nationwide.<\/p>\n

Roque said the partial resumption of POGOs\u2019 operations is necessary to augment the government\u2019s funds to address Covid-19.<\/p>\n

\u201cAng pinakaimportante, lahat ng kikitain sa\u00a0<\/em>POGOs\u00a0na ito ay pupunta po sa gastos ng gobyerno para naman dito sa<\/em>\u00a0Covid-19 response\u00a0natin<\/em>\u00a0(The most important is all revenues from POGOs will be used to boost the government\u2019s funding for Covid-19 response),\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Around 60 POGOs have secured licensed to operate from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR). Around 218 POGO service providers in the country have 108, 914 foreign employees.<\/p>\n

Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez III earlier said revenues from POGOs could be used as additional funds for Covid-19 response.<\/p>\n

The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) is targeting the collection of at least PHP2 billion a month from POGOs.<\/p>\n

Roque said the fate of 30 percent of POGO employees who can report for work will be up to Pagcor and BIR.<\/p>\n

He reiterated that POGOs need to settle taxes and obtain clearance from BIR, pay fees required by Pagcor, and shoulder the Covid-19 testing of its employees before they can resume operations.<\/p>\n

\u201cInaasahan po nila na matatagalan pa na magbukas muli ang<\/em>\u00a0POGOs\u00a0dahil napakadaming\u00a0<\/em>requirements (They expect that the reopening of POGOs would take longer because of the requirements),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n

Roque said just like BPOs, POGOs must provide temporary housing and shuttle services for their on-site workers.<\/p>\n

He also expressed confidence that PAGCOR will coordinate with the Department of Health to ensure POGOs\u2019 strict compliance with health regulations imposed amid the Covid-19 pandemic.<\/p>\n

\u201cImportante rin po na bilang isang<\/em>\u00a0POGO,\u00a0mag-<\/em>comply\u00a0sila sa\u00a0<\/em>requirement\u00a0na kinakailangan<\/em>\u00a0(It is important for POGOs to comply with the necessary requirements),\u201d Roque said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MANILA\u00a0\u2013 Malaca\u00f1ang on Saturday denied that the national government is playing favorites when it allowed the partial operations of Philippine …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":44,"featured_media":252612,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,95],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-253753","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\/253753","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=253753"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253753\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":253755,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253753\/revisions\/253755"}],"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=253753"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253753"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/canadianinquirer.net\/v1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253753"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}