The Department of Justice takes action on reports of STDs in Philippine offshore gaming operators’ workers.
The Department of Justice was apprised of the alarming increase in sexually transmitted disease (STDs) cases among foreign workers of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs), prompting it to take immediate action on this matter.
DOJ Assistant Secretary and spokesman Mico Clavano said
“It’s really quite sad to say that the DOJ has received various reports concerning this,” Inquirer quoted.
Clavano did not give any specific details and also mentioned that the agency is still figuring out the incident with the POGO workers.
But he said that based on the recent report they received, there were around 15 to 20 cases of STDs in one POGO company.
“We just hope that our ongoing operations to deport or cancel the visas of these foreign workers, we could be able to stop the spread of the disease. We will not wait for this to affect our fellow Filipinos,” Clavano said, adding that the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) has been instructed, “to determine the full extent of this.”
“We hope all the crimes and all the ill-effects brought by the continued stay of these Chinese and other foreign nationals would end because of our operations,” he added.
Visa Cancellation
The Bureau of Immigration said about 48,782 Chinese and other foreign nationals POGO worker’s licenses to operate had been either canceled or revoked by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.
It emphasized that the cancellation of Chinese and other foreign visas was more cost-effective for the government since it would allow the Chinese nationals to voluntarily exit the country at their own expense within a non-extendible period of 59 days.
“Within the month of October, we hope to cancel all the visas of the employees of POGO companies whose licenses have been canceled,” Clavano said.
It would be better to cancel their visas instead of deporting the POGO workers since it will only cost to government the procedures of deportation.
The NBI and the Philippine National Police (PNP) conducted separate operations in Pasig City and Angeles, Pampanga, last month that resulted in the capture of 331 Chinese and 41 other foreign nationals.
PNP Chief General Rodolfo Azurin Jr. said over 3,000 POGO workers have been issued with police clearances.
Azurin Jr. said that the Directorate for Investigation and Detective Management of the PNP, the unit in charge of the national police clearance, completed 297 clearances last week, increasing the total issued police clearances to 3,198.
Meanwhile, the PNP also pointed out that not a single incident of kidnapping and other POGO-related crimes had been recorded in Metro Manila and nearby provinces.
National Capital Region Police Office (NCRPO) Chief Brig.Gen. Jonnel Estomo said “since we had the Senate hearing, as of today, we did not have a kidnapping incident in Metro Manila,” which the hearing led by Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, chair of the Senate ways and means committee.
Further, Senator Francis Escudero challenged the claim of the finance department that the “social costs” and “reputational risks” that the country was facing “far outweigh” the revenues generated by POGOs.
Escudero also said the Department of Finance (DOF) should not arbitrarily make a such conclusion after Finance Assistant Secretary Valery Joy Brion confessed that the agency did not have actual computation on the social costs of POGOs.
“At what point should we be earning from POGOs for you to say that the benefits will overcome the social costs?” Escudero questioned the DOF.
“If that conclusion is not based on figures, where is it based? Interviews? Surveys? Perception? Emotion? Fear?” he continued.
Brion, however, stood firm in the senate hearing that the DOF continued operation of POGOs posed a ‘reputational risk’ for the Philippines that would drive away foreign investments.
“POGO’s modest contribution to the economy does not outweigh the social costs of its continued operations, especially that there is an alarming increase in undesirable criminal activities in the POGO sector,” she said.
“While POGO revenues contribute to the government coffers, this comes at a significant social cost to us. We’ve seen some studies and POGO links to some illegal activities, prostitution, employment of minors, and violation of labor laws,” she added.
Tags: #POGOworkers, #DOJ, #STDs