Robredo to admin: Answer accusation about POGO “protectors” from gov’t

February 16, 2020

Vice President Leni Robredo on Sunday urged the administration to answer allegation that some Philippine offshore gaming operation employers, also reportedly involved in illegal activities, such as human trafficking, have "powerful protectors" from the government.

“True or not, they should answer it, because if that is not answered then there will always be doubt among the people…so is the reason why there is proliferation of (POGOs) is because there are protectors?” Robredo said in her regular radio program.

“It seems that they are not answering that issue, they should answer it,” she added.

Aside from around P50 billion unpaid taxes, Robredo said there were reported crimes, such as prostitution, kidnapping and human trafficking, with the POGO operations.

“Not only (problems on) taxes but it also results to a lot of social cost. There are a lot of criminalities, a lot of bad things have been happening because it’s not regulated. Most of their activities are not regulated…it’s saddening because it looks like they are being prioritized,” she said.

The vice president said this kind of business should be stopped as it is considered illegal in China where most of the companies came from.

“What is prohibited there is being allowed here… So we are the ones absorbing the bad consequences of this business. Not only that, we're not able to collect the correct taxes,” Robredo said.

Last February 13, Senator Risa Hontiveros presented a 23-year old Taiwanese woman who was allegedly a victim of trafficking while working for a POGO company in the country.

According to her witness, abusive Chinese employers claimed that there were Philippine government officials protecting them.

Hontiveros said the woman was illegally recruited to work for a Chinese-run POGO company in Makati City where her passport was confiscated by her employers.

The woman recounted that when her bosses would threaten her, they would say that if she escaped, she would still be found because there were government officials on their side. Ella Dionisio/DMS