Senate Minority Leader Aquilino “Koko” Pimentel III wants President Marcos to name a “czar” to ensure that the government enforces his new policy to ban Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) now deemed hotbeds of crime and other illegal activities.

In an interview with CoverStory, Pimentel raised the need for the President to “designate” an anti-Pogo czar so that there will be “someone in charge” and to institute “command responsibility” in the job of banishing the gaming hubs from the country.

Asked if he had anyone in mind for the job, he said it should be “someone like Sen. Risa Hontiveros or Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian.” He described the two lawmakers as “genuinely and seriously against Pogo, are willing to devote time and energy to the ‘cause,’ and do not easily give up.”

Hontiveros chairs the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality which is currently investigating illegal Pogos in the country. She and Gatchalian are reported to have received threats on their lives for their ongoing inquiry. 

During his third State of the Nation Address last month, Mr. Marcos ordered authorities to wind down the operations of Pogo hubs in the country by the end of the year, saying that “their operations have ventured into illicit areas farthest from gaming, such as financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, even murder.”

“The grave abuse and disrespect to our system of laws must stop,” he said, eliciting a standing ovation from members of Congress and other government officials.

Pagcor 

In charge of enforcing the presidential directive is the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) chaired by Alejandro Tengco. Earlier, Tengco said there were only 42 legal Pogos—rebranded as “internet gaming licensees (IGLs)”—that his office would shut down by the end of the year.

Pimentel had threatened to push for Pagcor’s abolition if it fails to comply with Mr. Marcos’ directive on Pogos. But he told CoverStory: “So far, all indicators show that Pagcor will comply with the President’s very clear and categorical directive and order.”

“Should the direction of the wind change all of a sudden, then I will be ready to call out such disobedience and disrespect coming from the underlings of the President,” he said, adding they have “no right and power to undermine the decision” of Mr. Marcos.

Told that government agencies led by the Department of Justice recently met to coordinate efforts to enforce the Pogo ban policy, the opposition senator said this was a “good start” and that there was now “clarity on how to address” the ban. This also “puts an end to all doubts on whether Pogos should be allowed in the country,” he said.

“As for the government response, so far so good,” he added, and reiterated his support for the administration on this effort.

To ensure that the ban is put firmly in place, Pimentel said, the government should “pay attention to the details” and “coordinate its actions” apart from assigning an anti-Pogo czar for command responsibility. He also said it would be “wise” for Congress to come up with legislation “which gives the ban a permanent character.”

“Such legislation should [penalize] the establishment of Pogos as well as associated acts. We should also address numerous loopholes in our existing laws, like strengthening our laws governing the delayed registration of births, among others,” he said.

There are now two bills in the Senate seeking to repeal the law taxing Pogos in an effort to outlaw the gambling hubs. Sen. Joel Villanueva filed a measure shortly after the President announced the ban on the gaming hubs; Gatchalian filed the same bill as early as May because of the increasing number of Pogo-related crimes.

Alice Guo

Asked how the government could respond to doubts that the ban would be enforced given the way Pogos have supposedly entrenched themselves under the sponsorship of local officials, as now being alleged against Mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac, Pimentel said he was “sure” the ban would be carried out “with political will, discipline in the bureaucracy, and clear spheres of responsibilities.”

“The Office of the President should be ready to sanction and punish those who disobey the policy, including local government officials,” he said. 

Guo, who has a standing arrest warrant for skipping the Senate hearings, is being investigated for her alleged links to Zun Yuan Technology, the raided Pogo hub in Bamban. 

The mayor’s Filipino citizenship has been questioned in the Senate inquiry, with the National Bureau of Investigation saying that her fingerprints matched that of Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese national who entered the country in 2003. The mayor’s birth was registered only in 2013, or 17 years after she was supposedly born in 1986.

Harry Roque

On the revelations that have emerged from the ongoing Senate inquiry, including the possible Pogo links of Harry Roque, the spokesperson of then President Rodrigo Duterte, Pimentel said he “applaud[s]” Hontiveros for the “hard work” in investigating Pogos. He also said he was “eagerly awaiting” the release of the committee report and added that its findings “must be used to guide future actions.”

“Atty. Harry Roque is a competent lawyer; he can defend himself and explain why his name is cropping up,” Pimentel said. 

Roque and 11 other “persons of interest” in the Pogo hub in Porac, Pampanga, are now under an immigration lookout bulletin order.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla ordered the Bureau of Immigration to monitor the itineraries, travel, and whereabouts of Roque and the 11 other persons in relation to the cases against illegal Pogo incorporators and corporate officers of Lucky South 99 and Whirlwind Corp.

In a statement to the media, Roque said the immigration lookout order issued against him was “plain harassment” and a “political witch hunt intended to silence me as a critic of this administration.”

He said he has no reason to leave the country and will face his accusers and answer allegations against him.

Roque said the only pieces of evidence authorities had on him was his accompanying Katherine Cassandra Li Ong to Pagcor’s Tengco for “rescheduling of arrears payment” and “an uncorroborated organizational chart” which named him as in charge of legal matters. He had “no participation in preparing” the chart, he said, adding: “Neither did I consent to my name’s inclusion.”

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