GGRAsia – Philippine govt ready to support 27k local POGO workers

Philippine govt ready to support 27k local POGO workers

Sep 12, 2024 Newsdesk Latest News, Philippines, Top of the deck

The Philippine Department of Labor and Employment has said that nearly 27,000 Filipinos working in legal online offshore gaming operators in the country will be affected by the ban on the formerly-named Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs).

In a Wednesday press conference, Labor Secretary Bienvenido Laguesma (pictured) said his office had profiled a total of 26,996 local workers employed by 54 Internet Gaming Licensees (IGLs) and other service providers, across four regions: Metro Manila, Calabarzon, Central Luzon and Central Visayas.

“Because of this profiling we will now be able to determine what form of intervention we will provide,” Mr Laguesma said, as cited by the Business World media outlet.

The official said the government has scheduled for the first week of October a job fair specifically for the workers that will be affected by the ban on online offshore gaming operators.

“We hope that we can offer them the necessary services based on their skills, as well as their preferences regarding which industry they would like to move to or if they want to start their own livelihood programmes,” Mr Laguesma reportedly said.

On July 22, the Philippine leader, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr, said IGLs would need to end their business in the country by year-end.

The Philippine authorities said in late July that there would be no exceptions in terms of the need to leave the country for the circa 20,000 foreigners officially estimated to work for offshore online gaming operators in the nation.

A spokesperson for the Bureau of Immigration said those workers would have their work permits cancelled and would need to leave the country within 60 days after their companies ceased operations.

The country’s gambling regulator, the Philippine Gaming and Amusement Corporation (Pagcor), said in comments to GGRAsia in July that financially, the ban on offshore gaming operators would “have a minimal impact on the Philippine gaming industry since the segment accounts for less than 5 percent of [aggregate] gross gaming revenue”.