Scribd
Upload
72 views2 pages

Should POGO Continue Its Operations Amidst The Pandemic?

1) The document discusses whether Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) should continue operations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. 2) POGOs were suspended in Luzon during the lockdown to prevent virus spread, but the gaming regulator proposed allowing resumed operations to increase government revenues for the health crisis response. 3) The author argues against resuming POGO operations, saying they are non-essential and have not paid proper taxes, with unpaid taxes totaling $1 billion that could fund pandemic efforts. Further, some POGOs illegally employed 70,000 Chinese workers, so resuming operations would burden rather than help the country during the health crisis.

Uploaded by

Chris Wilfred Estrada
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
72 views2 pages

Should POGO Continue Its Operations Amidst The Pandemic?

1) The document discusses whether Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) should continue operations amidst the COVID-19 pandemic. 2) POGOs were suspended in Luzon during the lockdown to prevent virus spread, but the gaming regulator proposed allowing resumed operations to increase government revenues for the health crisis response. 3) The author argues against resuming POGO operations, saying they are non-essential and have not paid proper taxes, with unpaid taxes totaling $1 billion that could fund pandemic efforts. Further, some POGOs illegally employed 70,000 Chinese workers, so resuming operations would burden rather than help the country during the health crisis.

Uploaded by

Chris Wilfred Estrada
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
You are on page 1/ 2

Chris Wilfred S.

Estrada
GED105 – A55
Argumentative Essay
Topic: Should POGO continue its operations amidst the pandemic?
Stand: Against
Target Course Outcomes: COs on globalization and interstate governance

POGO: A BURDEN WITHIN THE HEALTH CRISIS

Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) are firms that operate in the Philippines
for providing online gambling services that are offered outside the country. The firms are
monitored and regulated by Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR). They
have been present in the country for around years after PAGCOR enabled them through new
policies. These POGOs mostly consist of Chinese workers and operators.

With the implementation of lockdown and enhanced community quarantine to fight the pandemic,
COVIC-19, the operations of POGO have halted. According to ABS-CBN News (2020), the
suspension of all POGO in Luzon was made by the gaming regulatory of the Philippines.
PAGCOR has made guidelines on POGO operations outside Luzon wherein they must follow the
rules and regulations of the enhanced community quarantine (ECQ). It is indeed the right decision
that the operation of POGO in Luzon was suspended. This suspension would ensure that the
operations would not contribute to the spread of COVID-19 in Luzon. However, what seems to be
the issue is that Luzon is not only the focus of containing the spread of COVID-19 but instead the
whole country is at stake. In my view, PAGCOR would not ensure that the service providers and
operators of POGO would have strict compliance with the ECQ measures. Relatively, the
suspension of POGO in the entire country would not affect the most Filipinos considering that the
major workforce for POGO consists of Chinese nationalities.

A proposal from PAGCOR was hand-in to the president regarding the resumption of operations of
POGO amidst the COVID-19 pandemic with the reason that it would allow the heightening of
revenues of the government to be able to help in the response in the health crisis (Domingo, 2020).
This proposal along with the explanation is completely a misguided outlook and viewpoint. With
the increase of COVID-19 cases, it is completely not suitable for the operations of POGO and the
job of POGO workers to continue. Domingo (2020) stated that POGOs have not been paying
proper taxes and that these companies are not a necessity. It was found out that some POGOs are
not able to pay at least ₱50 billion. This huge amount of money would have been used for the
massive testing, support for front liners and health facilities, and fund for relief distribution and
concrete plans in battling the health crisis. In negation to the proposal of PAGCOR, it is clear that
POGOs continue to become a burden to the country amidst COVID-19 if operations are resumed.
Additionally, it has been found that there are POGOs who illegally employed around 70,000
Chinese nationals (Business World, 2020). If we sum up all the points, it can be concluded that
POGO with its resumption of operations amidst the pandemic is completely unnecessary because
it has brought many problems and would not bring any help to the country.
References
Domingo, K. (2020). Senators condemn proposed resumption of 'non-essential' POGO industry
during COVID-19 crisis. ABS-CBN News. Retrieved from https://news.abs-
cbn.com/news/04/22/20/senators-condemn-proposed-resumption-of-non-essential-pogo-
industry-during-covid-19-crisis on April 30, 2020
The Editors of ABS-CBN News. (2020). PAGCOR suspends POGO operations in Luzon amid
COVID-19 lockdown. Retrieved from news.abs-cbn.com/news/03/18/20/pagcor-suspends-
pogo-operations-in-luzon-amid-covid-19-lockdown on April 30, 2020
The Editors of Business World. (2020). POGO ban sought once lockdown in Luzon eases.
Retrieved from https://www.bworldonline.com/pogo-ban-sought-once-lockdown-in-luzon-
eases/ on April 30, 2020

You might also like