MANILA — Although an executive order banning Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators is welcome, the country still needs a law to make the ban clear and comprehensive, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said.

President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. signed Executive Order No. 74 this week to formalize the ban he announced at his State of the Nation Address last July.

“While I laud the aims of the Executive Order, at nagpapasalamat din para sa reintegration program para sa mga displaced workers, may mga bagay pa rin sa EO na hindi malinaw,” Hontiveros said in a statement.

(While I laud the aims of the Executive Order and we are thankful that there will be a reintegration program for displaced workers, there are some things in the EO that are still not clear)

READ: Marcos issues EO officially banning POGOs

Quoting from the EO, Hontiveros noted that the ban “excludes online games of chance conducted in PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.)-operated casinos, licensed casinos, or integrated resorts with junket agreements,” which she said could be taken to mean that accredited casinos can host POGOs — online gaming services that cater to gamblers abroad.

She added that the ban also seems to exempt operations in economic zones like the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport (APECO) since these are not under the supervision of PAGCOR.

Malacañang orders Cagayan Special Economic Zone: Adhere to POGO ban

“What this only underscores is that we need a clear law to move forward with a meaningful, clear, unequivocal, and comprehensive ban,” Hontiveros said.

Anti-POGO bill

An Anti-POGO bill at the Senate proposes prohibiting the “conduct or offer [of] offshore gaming within the Philippine territory, exclusively to offshore authorized players” as well as the recruitment and training of potential POGO workers.

The bill also seeks to amend the Anti-Money Laundering Act to make operating and financing POGOs “unlawful activity” subject to monitoring and reporting requirements.

If passed into law, the bill will also revoke all POGO licenses and cancel the work permits and visas of POGO personnel 

Hontiveros said she will make sure that gaps and loopholes in the bill, which is pending second reading, will be addressed.

A similar bill has been pending at the House Commitee on Games and Amusements since 2022.

Bayan Muna meanwhile called EO74 long overdue and should be a “wake-up call for the government to pursue genuine national industrialization instead of relying on dubious industries like POGOs.”

POGOs were touted during the pandemic lockdowns as a source of government funding for social services but cases of torture, human trafficking and scam operations at some of the offshore gaming hubs has turned public sentiment and government policy against them.

"The investigation should not stop with the ban. We must hold accountable those who allowed these criminal operations to flourish at the expense of our people and national sovereignty," former Bayan Muna Rep. Carlos Isagani Zarate said, referring to probes by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and in Congress.

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