It is not advisable to “abruptly” shut down all POGOs in the country, as such will have a huge economic and social impact for a country already at risk from several “storms” swirling in the global environment. Know more:
IT is not advisable to “abruptly” shut down all Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators in the country, as such will have a huge economic and social impact for a country already at risk from several “storms” swirling in the global environment, a leading property think tank told senators on Monday.
Appearing as resource person at a Senate Ways and Means committee hearing chaired by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian to assess whether the social costs of keeping POGOs outweigh the benefits, Leechiu noted the macroeconomic impact of an abrupt shutdown by stating a fact: the “property sector is the single largest” bloc in the Philippine Stock Exchange.
The DOF in 2020, under Diokno’s predecessor, had led an interagency campaign to overhaul policies and rules governing POGOs, leading to the culling of illegal operators, initiatives for higher taxes, stricter regulations in labor and immigration, among others. However, it did not advocate a shutdown of the sector, only a revving up of its revenue-generating potential.
The economy is actually “going through right now a glut in office space,” a trend, he said, that the POGO sector has been delaying for the past several years. Wilson Y. Lee Flores, board member of the Federation of Filipino Chinese Chambers of Commerce and Industry, Inc. and chairman of the FFCCCII Public Information & Media Committee, read the group’s statement before the Senate.
Still, it found it “deplorable that crimes and illegal activities related to POGOs are increasing and these have come to adversely affect not only those involved in the industry and the Chinese or foreigners working therein, but also many Filipinos,” and pointed to “reported incidents of abductions, forced labor, prostitution and homicide related to POGOs.”
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