POGO hubs give 24/7 protection to workers
Pagcor assures
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) assured yesterday that foreign nationals working in IT parks that host call centers and other service providers of offshore gaming operators will be protected 24/7 under the hub concept.
Pagcor Chairperson Andrea Domingo said that law enforcers will be stationed at the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) hubs to provide protection against any threats to foreign nationals working within these complexes.
“The POGO concept was put into implementation because we wanted to protect the foreign workers from being harassed,” Domingo said in a televised interview on ANC’s Headstart. “If they are in a hub together with us 24/7, they can always lodge complaints.”
Aside from offices of Pagcor, Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR), Bureau of Immigration (BI) and Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE), Domingo said POGO hubs will have hospitals and clinics to provide health services.
“If there is an emergency, there will be a hospital or a clinic nearby,” she said. “It was a concept of providing an integrated area where everything is within human scale.”
The Pagcor chief also assured that if foreign workers have complaints against
their employers “we can always punish the operator.”
Domingo reiterated that POGO hubs are not meant to limit the freedom of workers. Instead, they offer convenience and protection to foreign workers, who are mostly Chinese.
“This is like a one-stop-shop, the BIR will be there, the DOLE will be there, BI will be there, we will be there 24/7, because I think it is our responsibility,” Domingo said.
Earlier, Finance Secretary Carlo G. Dominguez III supported the creation of online gaming hubs or IT parks that host POGO call centers and other service providers for easier monitoring and tax collection.
For tax management, Dominguez said it is easier for the BIR to monitor and collect appropriate taxes if foreign workers, who are mostly Chinese, are concentrated in one place.
Citing the case of Island Cove Resort in Kawit, Cavite, the finance chief said: “We welcome that they [Chinese workers] are staying there so it’s easy to catch them [if there are violations]… it’s a welcome development.”
The DOF and BIR expect to collect at least 12 billion in personal income taxes per month from foreign workers. So far, the agencies earlier reported that government initially collected 1200 million from the sector for the month of July.