MANILA, Philippines – Four months after his verbal order to close down all Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) by the end of the year, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. still has not issued an executive order(EO) for his directive, multiple sources have confirmed to Rappler, resulting in a situation where iterations of gaming licenses issued by freeport and economic zones remain a “gray area.”
“No EOs necessary. The ban is clear. All POGO licenses issued by Pagcor [Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation] are deemed canceled by December 31,” said Interior Secretary Jonvic Remulla.
“IGLs (internet gaming licenses) issued by the different agencies are still a gray area until the President makes a direct order. Meanwhile we will concentrate on the legal and illegal POGOs,” Remulla added.
A Pagcor source told Rappler that the agency was waiting for an EO. Freeport and economic zones enjoy some degree of autonomy, with some zones even able to issue their own visas.
One big economic zone that has its own IGLs is the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) run by Katrina Ponce Enrile, daughter of Marcos Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile.
Pagcor chairperson Alejandro Tengco told a Senate panel probing illegal POGOs in July — days after Marcos’ verbal directive — that CEZA was indeed a point of contention. Tengco said then, “Doon lang po ako nakakakita ng kumplikasyon (That’s the only area where I can see a complication), but we will see how we can cover.”
Tengco had said before that the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority (APECO) has no licensing operations, and the Authority of the Freeport Area of Bataan (AFAB) needs Pagcor’s approval before it can issue licenses.
Rappler also asked Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra about the issue as Tengco had said back in July that both of them would discuss the issue further. Guevarra told Rappler: “[Chairman Tengco] hasn’t referred the matter to me. Baka [maybe] he took it up instead with the OGCC, the statutory counsel of GOCCs like the Pagcor.”
The primary function of the Office of the Government Corporate Counsel is to serve as the principal law office of all government owned- or controlled corporations (GOCCs) their subsidiaries, and other corporate offspring; and government-acquired asset corporations.
‘Tangible proof’
On Thursday, October 31, authorities raided a gaming hub that is licensed by the AFAB as a special class business process outsourcing. The POGO design is multi-layered such that many companies under that umbrella are, on paper, BPOs.
Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) spokesperson Winston Casio could not comment on the inclusion or non-inclusion of economic zones or freeport zones in the presidential ban, but said, “This raid is tangible proof that some investment promotion areas are being abused to allow offshore gaming activities that are bordering on scamming activities.”
“It’s crucial that the national government works to address this whole gap,” said Casio.
Tengco said during Senate’s July hearing that “damay ang AFAB (AFAB is covered)” by the ban by virtue of its charter, whereas CEZA was a special case.
“Ito pong CEZA kasi ay mayroong sarili siyang charter, at naloloob sa charter niya, na bukod tangi ito lang ang export processing authority na mayroong kapangyarihang makapag-issue ng lisensya para sa anumang uri ng gaming operations,” Tengco said before.
(CEZA has its own charter, and in that charter, it is the only export processing authority which has the power to issue its own license for any kind of gaming operations.)
The Bureau of Immigration is in the process of downgrading the visas of foreign workers who applied for visas to work in a POGO hub. The BI announced that POGO workers can voluntarily downgrade their visas from a work visa to a temporary visitor visa, so that after the downgrade, they are allowed to stay in the country for 59 more days “to wind down their affairs,” BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado said in early October.
“Workers who fail to leave the country by December 31, 2024, will face deportation proceedings and be blacklisted from re-entering the Philippines,” said Viado.
Whether the ban, as well as the potential deportation of workers, also applies to CEZA is up for contention in the absence of a written order from Malacañang, whose current chief legal counsel founded CEZA.
Rappler has reached out to Malacañang, but Communications Secretary Cesar Chavez has yet to respond as of posting time. We will update this story once he does. – With reports from Joann Manabat and Bea Cupin/Rappler.com
For more stories and investigations on POGOs, refer to this page.