lt
WEDNESDAY AUGUST L4,2Ot9 \
P0G0 hubs
near military
facilities bared
By MaricelV. Cruz
A CONGRESSMAN on Monday
voiced concern over the presence of
Chinese-run Philippine offshorp garn-
ing operations or POGOS in the areas
near the bountry's rnilitary facilities.
"Primarily, we [POGOs] should stay
away from sensitive areas like the AFP
and our security-risk areas. We must
be more sensitive to that, PBA Party-
\ neir- military facilities raised security
list Rep. Jericho Nograles, a nephew of
President Rodrigo Duterte and brother
of Cabinet Secretary Karlo Alexei
Nograles, said inb television interview.
Fio*ce Secretary Carlos Dominguez
IIIexpressed support behind the creation
ofonline gaming hubs or IT parks that host
call ceniers and other service providers of
Philippine offshore gaming operators for
easier monitoring and tax collection.
Dominguez told reporters he wel-
comed the POGO hub concept ap-
proved earlier by the state-run Philip-
pine Amusement and Ou*tn*frfio*
Frcm
POGO...
AI
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian
wanted the Senate to
said
investigate the
apparent billions ofpesos the government
mightbe losing due to its failure to collect
fromthe POGO hubs.
, There may be 200,000 Chinese POGO
workers in the Philippines based on
'
studies, but Gatchalian said only 16,500
were registered with the Bureau of
Internal Revenue.
"Where are the 170,000 POGO
workers? If we are to estimate the
supposed collection of the government
from POGO workers, were are expecting
to collectP40 billion," Gatchalian said.
.Nograles said the presence of POGOs
concerns.
"What I'm afraid of is the government
has this tendency to forget the big picture
and being too parochial as far as POGOs
are concerned, he said.
He urged the House committee o:r
national defense and security to look
into the mafier to allow the issue to,{e
discussedpublicly. ', t
The Finance department earlier salllhe
income taxes that could be collected'from
foreign nationals working for POGOs
was P32 billion annually, with the list of
'
workers pegged at 138,001. With Julito
G. Rada and Macon Ramos-Araneta
\ fieoilf PAe€t/