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The Chairman and CEO of Philippines Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Alejandro Tengco, has stated his openness to a newer, improved and better version of online gaming, in place of the POGOs that have been banned nationwide in the Philippines.
“So while the mandate today, the instruction of the President today is to wind down the operations of all till the end of the year, but who knows, maybe later on we can study and see if it’s possible to have a sort of an upgraded version,” Tengco was quoted by Philippines news agencies, in reply to Northern Samar 1st district Rep. Paul Daza.
Earlier, Daza has urged PAGCOR to “learn from past mistakes” and come up with an “upgraded” version of POGOs that would help the economy during PAGCOR’s budget hearing.
The representative also suggested that PAGCOR help directly impacted employees of the POGO ban, stating that the regulatory body also “have some sort of a moral obligation for them.”
In reply to Daza, Tengco said he had already been working on such improvements since the cutting down from 298 POGOs to the 43 that became law-abiding tax-paying IGLs, prior to the ban.
He also assured that he would work with Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma to help displaced local workers.
However, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan stated that POGO had “very little impact” to Philippines’ GDP overall, contributing less than 1% of the total national GDP.
