Sunshine has returned with the news that the government has completed deporting some 2,300 foreigners who used to work for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) that were closed by the authorities on orders of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.
According to Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz, chief of the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), most of the deportees were returned to China, their country of origin.
Several others were nationals of Indonesia, Malaysia, and Vietnam and will soon rejoin their families there, hoping to find alternative jobs or livelihood.
Marcos did a master stroke in PR when he proudly announced in his State of the Nation Address last July that he had ordered the total ban on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).
At that time, these gaming companies although duly licensed by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) were vilified for causing more harm than good for the national economy. Through machinations of both foreign and Filipino operators, POGOs have been involved in various online shenanigans such as financial and love scams, questionable transactions, and regular criminal offenses like kidnapping, torture, illegal detention, homicide and murder.
Economic managers of both the Duterte and Marcos administrations have pointed out that the disadvantages brought by POGOs greatly outweigh whatever government revenues that they contribute to the official coffers. The various raids conducted by the PAOCC on offshore gaming operators in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac, Pampanga further opened a can of worms and provided incontrovertible proofs that indeed, serious and heinous crimes are being committed with impunity behind those high walls of POGO establishments.
The PAOCC initiative also uncovered a string of illegal activities going on in the local civil registries of towns and cities, the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA), the Department of Foreign Affairs, the Bureau of Immigration and other vital government offices which have something to do with foreigners entering and staying in the country.
Going by the loud applause that people gave to President Bongbong’s announcement of phasing out all POGOs by December 31, 2024, the people have unconditionally supported the President’s decision.
Shutting the door on these gaming and conning syndicates is not only a desirable action by the government. More importantly, it is the fulfillment of the government’s constitutional mandate to protect the people.
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