CONGRESS REVIVES RECTO BILL TO ABOLISH PAGCOR AND COMBAT ILLEGAL POGOs

Bukidnon 2nd District Rep Jonathen Keith Flores said PAGCOR has dismally and irreparably failed to regulate POGOs and other forms of online gaming.

He said that there would not have the ongoing POGO crisis if PAGCOR did its job and it’s failure is a major cause of the POGO crisis.

Congressman Flores suggested for the decisive solution to abolish PAGCOR and transfer its regulatory powers to a new Philippine Amusement and Gaming Commission, which is what HB 3559 seeks to accomplish.

 

Thus he decided, he said therefore, to co-author House Bill 3559, filed by former Congressman and former Senator Ralph G. Recto, who now serves as Secretary of Finance. Now that former Congressman Ralph Recto has crossed over to the Department of Finance, his bill is effectively an orphan.

 

He added that he has chosen to adopt the measure because, among others, it will abolish the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, transfer its regulatory powers to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Commission (PAGCOM), and privatize all existing PAGCOR operations and casinos, including all kinds of PAGCOR online gaming.

 

THIS IS TERENCE MORDENO GRANA REPORTING FOR AFP COMMUNITY NEWS, ONE AFP FOR STRONGER PHILIPPINES

I chose to adopt HB 3559 so that when the Committee on Government Reorganization and  Committee on Games and Amusement jointly deliberate on it and work on a substitute bill, I can introduce amendments that will effectively phaseout all Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs) that were granted licenses by PAGCOR and dismantle all the illegal POGOs that were never granted licenses and whose previous licenses were not renewed.

 

Through the Committee and the technical working group, I will also introduce amendments that will remove online games on mobile phones and cyberspace that have become electronic means of cybercrime, scams, identity theft, and online theft. (END)