THE Committee on Games and Amusements of the House of Representatives, chaired by Rep. Gus S. Tambunting of the Second District of Parañaque City, has created a technical working group (TWG) intended to criminalize nefarious credit and loan activities in the country’s casinos.
The creation of the TWG committee was in reaction to House Bill 6249 filed by Party-list Rep. Virgilio S. Lacson of the Manila Teachers, who revealed that loan sharks operating in casinos charge 2 percent a day in interest to borrowers.
Reports from the gaming industry reveal that casino creditors have been around since the time casinos opened in the country in the 1970s, Lacson said.
Local loan sharks are known to operate in Newport City near the international airport and the sprawling Entertainment City in the reclaimed land in Manila Bay.
“Each financier can lend up to P100 million a week to borrowers who have been losing in the casino in exchange for their cars, real-estate properties and personal belongings such as expensive watches and jewelry,” Lacson said.
“The incident in Resorts World Manila last year, which featured a gunman heavily indebted due to his accruing financial obligations from his creditors resulting in his gambling addiction, could have been prevented if proper mechanisms had been in place,” added Lacson, vice chairman of the Committee on Government Reorganization.
During the hearing, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) Assistant Vice President Arnold Ferdinand Salvosa said Pagcor fully supports the measure seeking to criminalize the operations of loan sharks inside casinos.
Salvosa added Pagcor has consistently reminded and issued memorandums to their operations and licensed properties “that they should not tolerate the activities of loan sharks in the casinos.”
The gaming body has issued warnings to all local casinos to ban from their establishments known loan shark syndicates victimizing big-time players, said Salvosa.
The proposed “Protection Against Casino Loan Sharks Act of 2017” declares the State shall outlaw credit and loaning activities of loan sharks inside casinos as these pose imminent threat to the financial credibility and monetary viability of individuals.
The State shall ensure that individuals continue to possess sound financial disposition and provided with legal means that shall protect them from accruing indebtedness by criminalizing loaning activities illegally operating inside casinos.
The bill seeks to penalize violators with prison mayor to reclusion temporal and a fine of P100,000 to P500,000 at the discretion of the court.
Casino operators shall be directly and principally liable jointly with the offender for the commission of the offense for civil damages, unless the casino operators are able to prove that the establishment exercised due diligence in preventing loaning activities inside casino premises.
Any person soliciting, undertaking credit or loaning activities inside casinos, either physically or electronically in exchange for their cars, real-estate properties and other valuables as collateral, and charging interest rates for the principal amount borrowed, shall be guilty of illegal credit or loaning and upon conviction shall be penalized.
Pagcor itself operates its own Casino Filipino-branded network nationwide. When the Arroyo government in 2008 opened the Philippine gambling market to the world, essentially removing Pagcor’s monopoly, the industry grew faster and by 2016, it was already worth P118 billion in terms of gross revenue, a tremendous increase from the P56 billion gross revenue earnings in 2012.
According to Investment bank Credit Suisse, “the country’s gambling industry is projected to earn gaming revenue of $6 billion [P297.35 billion] this year, potentially making the Philippines among the top 4 in the world.”
The sophisticated local gaming industry is now competing with multibillion-dollar operations in neighboring Macau, Taiwan, Malaysia and Singapore, and as far as Australia, New Zealand and Las Vegas, countries known for their integrated casino-entertainment enclaves and where loan sharks are strictly prohibited.
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