THE government is now considering barring foreign nationals (FN) from applying in some positions in the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (Pogo) industry.
The Department of Labor and Employment (DOLE) said it is now assessing which positions in Pogo can be done exclusively by Filipinos, and which need to be filled by FNs.
“We are still identifying these positions because is just a new industry,” Labor Undersecretary Ana C. Dione told reporters in an ambush interview during a media forum in Manila.
For Filipinos
She noted that since most of the Pogo in the country cater to Chinese nationals, they hire a lot of Mandarin-speaking Chinese nationals to serve as customer relations officers.
This is why DOLE earlier noted that 87.9 percent of the identified 63,855 FNs working in 165 licensed Pogo firms as of March are Chinese.
Other nationals such as Vietnamese, Indonesian, Taiwanese, Malaysian and Thai comprise the remaining 12.1 percent or 7,675 workers.
Dione, however, said the computer engineer positions for the Pogo could be filled by Filipino workers.
Role of the public
Dione also stressed that even the Mandarin-speaking customer relations officers position, currently being dominated by FNs, can eventually go to Filipinos workers.
“If any skilled Filipino could do it, then we can cancel the work permits of the foreigners, who are doing it,” Dione said.
“I would like to reiterate, the work permits are not forever,” she added. She pointed out they are also open to getting even anonymous reports from the public on illegal Pogo operations.
“We already get e-mail, sometimes similar reports and we send our people there to investigate,” Dione said.
Illegal activities
The labor official confirmed they also discovered several Pogo outfits illegally operating in the country.
“These are the ones which are not licensed by Pagcor [Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.],” Dione said.
She said they closely monitor the suspect firms as their employed FNs are mostly likely also working without work permits and are therefore vulnerable to labor abuse.
Data from the Bureau of Local Employment (BLE) showed that in Metro Manila alone, at least 8,370 FNs are working in Pogo companies without work permits.
Dione said the unlicensed companies face closure from Pagcor, while the workers may be subjected to deportation procedures.