POGOs economy effect in the Philippines

The Philippines has earned P11.9 billion in offshore gaming revenues since 2016, when several online gaming companies opened shop in the country after China banned all electronic casinos from operating in the mainland.

The influx of Mandarin-speaking offshore gaming workers in the country drove rental rates in the Manila Bay area by 80 percent, according to data from real estate consultancy firm Leechiu Property Consultants.

Office and accommodation space is expected to remain strong as long as POGO (or Philippine offshore gaming operations) firms are allowed to operate in the country, said JLL Philippines country head Christophe Vicic.

The sore point for the public, of course, is the glaringly obvious fact that the mysterious call centers that have sprouted across Metro Manila and other economic zones are only “Philippine” in the sense that they are physically located here; their management, staffing, and market is otherwise wholly Chinese. The sudden appearance of thousands of Chinese workers has been unnerving, which might not be the case were it not for the continually well-publicized maritime territory dispute between the two countries; as things stand, however, it has the look and feel of a colonial-style invasion.

According to the DoF, the sector contributes about P2 billion per month in tax revenues at present, following a rather lengthy process of identifying the operations and the individual workers they employ. Officially, there are about 138,000 POGO workers, virtually all of them foreigners; unofficially, Sec. Dominguez estimates that number accounts for no more than half of the actual POGO workforce.

There are 60 licensed POGOs in the country but only 48 are operational, a Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. representative said during a House of Representatives hearing on the agency’s 2020 budget.

The Bureau of Internal Revenue started collecting taxes from foreign workers employed by POGOs in early July and ordered the companies to remit withholding taxes from such workers by Aug. 10.

There are already warnings that the crackdown is coming. China within the last week has aired pointed “concerns” over reports that Chinese workers are being exploited in POGO businesses.

Malacañang has handled that topic in completely the wrong way, recommending that any complaints ought to be filed through normal legal channels for labor issues here. This amounts to the administratio n shooting itself in the foot, because what this has done, in effect, is tacitly accept Philippine responsibility for a wholly Chinese problem.

That just makes it easier for China to carry out a crackdown, because it shortcuts the development of the technical problems of regulated online gaming; China can simply pull the plug based on unacceptable working conditions, and blame the Philippines in the process. Now that the issue has come to the forefront of public attention, that ax may even fall before the quarter is out, creating another headache for policymakers trying to get this country’s economic growth back on track.

John Denver Trending

This boy created a new Facebook account and made 4 thousand friends in 4 days.

Here's the usual weekend for him: taking a dip with friends at the cleanest river in the Philippines, which is just a few steps away from their place.

Let's #trendkindness.

Given the interest and enthusiasm the film has generated, there’s a good chance that there will be more scheduled screenings in commercial movie houses. Watch out for it.

The movie is close to my heart (pounded to the core during the almost two-hour screening) for two reasons: First, the movie is in Kinaray-a, the language of my province- Antique. It has English subtitles for non-Antiqueños. Second, it’s about the scourge of online disinformation – the issue that our group, VERA Files, is actively helping to fight.

The movie revolves around a mild-mannered 8th grade pupil, John Denver (portrayed with utmost sensitivity by 14-year-old Jansen Magpusao) who found himself in the center of a town’s turmoil when he was wrongly suspected of stealing a classmate’s I-pad.

The issue got complicated when a classmate posted a video of a fight between John Denver and a bully classmate.

The movie was shot in its entirety in Pandan, a town in the northern part of Antique ,where the family of the current representative, Loren Legarda, comes from. The Zaldivar family (the late Supreme Court Justice Calixto Zaldivar, former Governor Enrique Zaldivar, former Governor Sally Perez-Zaldivar) are also from Pandan.

The movie is rich in local sound and color. One even hears in the background the” tiktik.” In our childhood days, we were told that was the sound of the “aswang.”

In building scene after scene, the director, Arden Rod Condez, deftly integrated local culture, customs and tradition, the superstitions with modern day daily life. The ending is heartbreaking. The audience that filled the CPP main theater was quiet when the movie ended. It took them a little while to recover and applaud.

Nazamel Tabares of Pelikula Mania said in his film review: “It’s an experience. Right after its turning point, you feel you’re part of what seems to be a series of mess. And what resulted to that mess are people judging and adding gas to a fire that’s already spreading wildly. You get to be in the middle of that mess, of that fire. And it’s probably one of the worst feelings you could ever have.

“This is the first film of Arden Rod Condez and it’s amazing how focused his storytelling is. How effective and how brilliant he delivers his messages through this film. And I applaud him for that.”


We are so proud of our kasimanwa, Arden Rod Condez.

For the Antiqueños who trooped to the gala night at the CCP last Tuesday, another high was the sound of Kinaray-a in the elegant lobby of the CCP. Philippine Star defense reporter Jaime Laude, who is from the town of Valderrama, found it delightfully amazing.

Writer Glenn Sevilla Mas, who had a big part in the movie as well as in the making of the movie, said in Facebook: “More than anything else, what made me proudest last night was seeing and hearing our own--language, culture, people, landscapes--at the CCP Main Theater. And in front of fellow Filipinos and in the company of hundreds of fellow Karay-a, too! Kruhay gid!"

Sally Perez’ daughter, Roselyn, who is into theater, posted in Facebook: "Iba lang talaga to hear the dialect. Hits you in a deeper place. More power. I can’t wait for the next Kiniray-a film."

reposted article from ellen tordisillas