A member of the House Committee on Games and Amusements on Tuesday urged on the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) and the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) to disclose the real revenues generated by Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogos).
Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Lyndon S. Barbers said in a statement he wants these agencies to report to Congress the revenues of Pogos these submit to the national treasury.
Earlier, Pagcor Chairman Andrea D. Domingo said the Pogo industry is contributing P20 billion a year on lease payments to the real-estate sector.
Domingo added that the industry is also estimated to generate P24 billion in income taxes annually and P1.25 billion in value-added tax monthly from foreign workers who purchase around P12.5 billion a month.
“What Domingo is telling us are estimates or prophesies; nothing more and nothing less. As of last reports published recently in the media, the Pogo industry, so far, only generated P200 million in revenues,” he added.
According to Barbers, it now appears, with the more than 200 Pogos ordered shutdown by authorities, the much-vaunted billions of pesos projected income from these online gaming firms is just a product of “media hype.”
The lawmaker said 46 out of the 58 Pogos licensed by Pagcor are registered local companies or foreign corporations.
“Now, the BIR, together with the NBI and PNP, had shut down more than 200 illegal Pogos,” he said.
“The question is: ‘How can the government derive billions of pesos in revenues from these Pogos if only 12 of them are registered firms and could be considered legal to operate in the Philippines?”
Several measures have been filed to look into the operations of Pogo operations in the country.
Barbers said he would dig into who are accountable and responsible that allowed and emboldened these “colorum” online gaming firms to operate.
“First, we would ask the BI [Bureau of Immigration] and the Department of Foreign Affairs on the real number of Pogo workers who are now present in the country. Next would be the Department of Labor and Employment on how many of these Pogo workers had been issued with work visas and where are they deployed or employed,” he said.
“The last, of course, would be the Pagcor and the BIR. Is there any truth on their much-vaunted prophesies of billions of peso revenues out of these Pogos,” he added.
The solon said he could not comprehend why these Chinese Pogo operators and workers are so emboldened in working in these colorum firms; “a clear indication that they cheat the government of revenues in terms of taxes.”
Earlier, House Committee on Games and Amusement Chairman and ACT-CIS Rep. Eric Go Yap said his panel will ask the BI, BIR and DOLE to report to the committee the situation relating Pogo.
He said the committee will also study the creation of an interagency that will regulate and document the entry of Pogo workers in the country.
“We want to know how many Pogo Chinese workers in the country and how much taxes they are paying to the government,” he said.
The lawmaker said this interagency will also protect the workers from the online gaming scheme.