DOLE keeping tight watch on Boracay gaming operators

Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Silvestre Bello said labor law compliance officers are closely monitoring offshore gaming operators particularly in the resort island of Boracay believed to be recruiting Chinese workers.

“Our labor law compliance officers are on red alert. We haven’t made it public, but we have inspectors monitoring Boracay and POGOs (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators),” Bello said.

A Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) official was quoted to have said there are more than 130,000 Chinese working for POGOs in the country.

“When it comes to businesses there is nothing we can do but if there are investments, it is fine with us. What we do not like is when foreign nationals are hired for the jobs,” Bello said.

The Department of Finance recently ordered the consolidation of all foreign nationals working for POGOs to ensure that they are paying the proper taxes.

Bello said the interagency task force will compile the list and release the detailed result of the inspection of POGOs in the country’s economic zones.

“Nagkaroon kami ng massive inspection and we are just waiting for the result,” he said.

Bello said there were loopholes that that need to be addressed, especially on solving labor and tax issues involving foreign nationals.

Foreign workers without an alien employment permit (AEP), for example, are only fined 110,000, Bello said.

“That’s too small, they can pay it. They are earning billions,” he said.

Bello admitted that department has limited capability to monitor almost 1 million establishments since it only has 800 labor inspectors nationwide.

He also urged the public to report illegal foreign workers through DOLE’s Hotline 1349. Smart and Globe Telecom subscribers can easily reach DOLE by dialing 1-3-4-9 without any prefix.