GGRAsia – New chief for Philippine gaming licensing work

New chief for Philippine gaming licensing work

Jul 13, 2018 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp (Pagcor) has announced the appointment of Angeline Papica-Entienza as head of its gaming licensing arm.

Pagcor, which operates casinos in the Philippines as well as being the gaming regulatory authority, issued a written statement saying Ms Papica-Entienza, a lawyer, replaces Ramon Villaflor as head of the Pagcor Gaming Licensing and Development Department, and as assistant vice-president of the corporation.

The corporation also announced new appointments to other positions in its gaming licensing arm.

Rowena Alcaide, another lawyer, replaces Dave Sevilla as senior manager of the Pagcor Casino Licensing and Regulatory Unit.

Angelie Agustin replaces Luis Dela Concepcion as senior manager of the Pagcor Responsible Gaming and Logistics Unit.

Jeremy Luglug, yet another lawyer, replaces Maria Perpetua Flor as acting senior manager of the Pagcor Remote Gaming Unit.

Ms Papica-Entienza and Ms Alcaide assumed their posts on July 3, and Ms Agustin and Mr Luglug assumed theirs on Monday, the corporation said.

The issue of casino licensing in the Philippines has been a controversial topic recently. An announcement in March said that Pagcor had awarded a provisional gaming licence to Macau casino operator Galaxy Entertainment Group Ltd and a local partner for a casino resort on the holiday island of Boracay. The following month a spokesman for President Rodrigo Duterte said that no such casino would be allowed. That position was reiterated on Wednesday this week by another official.

In February it was reported – quoting Andrea Domingo, the head of Pagcor – that the Philippines had decided on a nationwide pause on issuing further casino licences, after President Duterte raised concerns about their “proliferation” in the country. The pause was said to have taken effect on January 13. It was subsequently reported that some new-to-market projects were not affected by the moratorium, because they had been agreed in principle prior to its introduction.