Carpio joins calls to ban Pogos
FORMER Supreme Court Associate Justice Antonio Carpio has joined mounting calls to cancel all licenses issued to operators of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators ( Pogos).
Carpio stressed that the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation ( Pagcor), the country’s gaming regulator, should not have granted licenses to Chinese Pogos “considering that gambling is illegal in China.”
“Have you heard about the ‘great firewall of China?’ The online Pogos claiming to operate in China are blocked,” Carpio was quoted as saying at a public event in Manila on Saturday.
“They get [a] license from Pagcor saying they operate in China but they are blocked,” Carpio added.
It can be recalled that in July last year, Pagcor came up with new regulations for Pogos, now referred officially as “Internet Gaming Licensees” ( IGLS).
The retired SC justice claimed that what the report termed “Chinese- run Pogos” were using such a license as “cover only so they can have buildings, operation with computers.”
These companies, according to Carpio, were instead engaged in illegal activities online such as scamming and phishing.
“Just cancel those licenses. We are just fooling ourselves,” Carpio urged the government.
Carpio also hoped that President Marcos would formally announce that he is banning Pogos in the country during his State of the Nation Address (Sona).
“It is probably good if he can announce he is against the rules of Pagcor issuing licences on POGO that cater to the mainland Chinese market,” he said.
The Chinese government has earlier announced its willingness to work with Philippine authorities in connection with online gambling, while stressing that Chinese people were mere “victims of offshore gambling.”
Carpio along with other opponents of Pogos such as former senator Leila de Lima and former Ombudsman Conchita Carpio- Morales had also released an open letter urging Marcos to cancel offshore online licenses.
“Pagcor cannot, and should not, issue a license to any Pogo that caters to the mainland Chinese market.
Any such license is void ab initio [from the beginning] under Pagcor’s own regulations,” their open letter said.
On the other hand, Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) Secretary Benjamin Abalos Jr. had also met with law enforcement agencies and local governments in Metro Manila and parts of Luzon to discuss measures to eradicate illegal Pogos.
The National Police earlier raised concerns over illegal activities such as espionage, human trafficking, sexual exploitation, physical abuse, kidnapping, extortion, digital fraud and identity theft involving illegal Pogos.