{"id":18519,"date":"2021-06-01T16:49:34","date_gmt":"2021-06-01T16:49:34","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=18519"},"modified":"2026-04-23T19:00:29","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T22:00:29","slug":"the-philippines-urges-quick-approval-of-new-pogos-tax","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/the-philippines-urges-quick-approval-of-new-pogos-tax","title":{"rendered":"The Philippines urges quick approval of new POGOs tax"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte wants lawmakers to pass the new bill that sets income and gaming taxes on online casinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- President Rodrigo Duterte is pushing for\u00a0<strong>quick approval of Senate Bill 2232\u00a0<\/strong>under which Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) must pay<strong>\u00a05 per cent tax on their gross gaming revenue<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The bill would also make <strong>foreigners employed in online casinos and their service providers pay 25 per cent income tax<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Bloomberg, presidential spokesman Harry Roque stated: &#8220;We hope tha<strong>t this measure would not only generate the much-needed revenues in the country<\/strong>&nbsp;but also place the industry under stricter government oversight.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Senator Pia Cayetano, who sponsors the new bill, shared the&nbsp;<strong>key features of the proposed measure through Twitter<\/strong>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-rich is-provider-twitter wp-block-embed-twitter\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\" data-width=\"550\" data-dnt=\"true\"><p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">In today&#39;s <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/senatePH?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">@senatePH<\/a> session, I sponsored Senate Bill No. 2232, which establishes the tax regime of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations or <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/POGOs?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">#POGOs<\/a>. <br><br>See below the key features of our proposed measure: <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Z0ctbSRTrq\">pic.twitter.com\/Z0ctbSRTrq<\/a><\/p>&mdash; pia cayetano (@piacayetano) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/piacayetano\/status\/1397131220983509000?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\">May 25, 2021<\/a><\/blockquote><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Cayetano said <strong>POGOs has grown rapidly in the Philippines<\/strong>, generating additional revenues for the government in the past year.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pogo-tax-payments-rise-11-7-in-2020\">POGOs<\/a>\u00a0brought in\u00a0<strong>US$149.4m in tax payments last year<\/strong>\u00a0despite the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic and the resulting departure of many firms.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>However, considering the proliferation of POGOs in the country, Cayetano said their<strong> potential as a source of revenue was much bigger<\/strong>\u00a0and that the government could have collected more than Php6.43bn (US$133.8m) in 2019 alone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Last year, the Philippines\u2019 lower chamber\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/the-philippines-online-gaming-tax-bill-advances\">tried to impose a 5 per cent franchise tax on overall turnover<\/a>\u00a0for POGOs, but\u00a0online gambling operators\u00a0began leaving the country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The<strong>\u00a0tax changes\u00a0<\/strong>were finally\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/supreme-court-suspends-5-pogo-tax\">suspended in January<\/a><strong>\u00a0<\/strong>following a petition to the Supreme Court from foreign gaming groups, but<strong>\u00a0<\/strong>they were<strong>\u00a0<\/strong><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/the-philippines-online-gaming-tax-bill-advances\">reintroduced in February<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to PAGCOR\u2019s website, the<strong>\u00a0number of POGO licence holders that are currently operating is just 40<\/strong>, compared with 61 before the Covid crisis.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">The Philippines economy could rebound in 2022<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/sp-expects-philippines-economy-to-rebound-in-2022\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">S&amp;P Global Ratings<\/a>&nbsp;believes<strong>&nbsp;the Philippines\u2019s economy could rebound&nbsp;<\/strong>once the Covid-19 pandemic is contained.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>S&amp;P<strong>\u00a0has maintained<\/strong>\u00a0<strong>the Philippines&#8217; \u201cBBB+\u201d rating<\/strong>, which means it has adequate capacity to meet its financial commitments. It said the Philippines BBB+ rating<strong>\u00a0would remain unchanged for half a year and could last up to two years<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to Business World, the firm stated: \u201cWe affirmed the ratings because&nbsp;<strong>we believe the Philippines will continue to have good economic recovery<\/strong>&nbsp;prospects once the Covid-19 pandemic is contained\u201d.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>S&amp;P also believes the government\u2019s fiscal performance will strengthen and<strong>&nbsp;that GDP will grow 7.9 per cent in 2021.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Metro Manila under general community quarantine until June 15<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>President Rodrigo Duterte has placed <strong>Metro Manila under general community quarantine (GCQ)<\/strong>\u00a0until June 15.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In May, the Philippines Department of Tourism (DOT) allowed\u00a0<a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/manila-irs-get-permission-to-receive-guests\">13 Manila Integrated Resorts<\/a>\u00a0to reopen and receive guests for a staycation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>With a&nbsp;<strong>total of 5,986 rooms<\/strong>&nbsp;between them, Metro Manila IRs may&nbsp;<strong>receive only staycation guests from within the National Capital Region<\/strong>. Guests must be aged between 18 and 65.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The Ministry of Health reported<strong>&nbsp;6,684 new Covid-19 cases in the last 24 hours&nbsp;<\/strong>and a total of 54,290 active cases.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte wants lawmakers to pass the new bill that sets income and gaming taxes on online casinos.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":18526,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"President Duterte is advocating for Senate Bill 2232, which proposes a 5% Gross Gaming Revenue (GGR) tax on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and a 25% income tax for foreign POGO employees. This legislative push aims to enhance government revenue and strengthen regulatory oversight, despite previous challenges where similar tax proposals led to operator departures and a reduction in licensed POGOs. The move comes as S&P Global Ratings maintains the Philippines' 'BBB+' rating, projecting economic rebound and GDP growth.","focusai_entities":"Rodrigo Duterte, Harry Roque, Pia Cayetano, PAGCOR, S&P Global Ratings, Bloomberg, Business World, Philippines Department of Tourism (DOT), Ministry of Health, Supreme Court","focusai_location":"Philippines, Metro Manila, Manila, National Capital Region","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.95), affiliate_publisher (0.7), marketing_crm (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"POGO Tax Enforcement","query":"What specific mechanisms will be implemented to ensure effective collection of the 5% GGR tax from POGOs and the 25% income tax from foreign employees, given past enforcement challenges and operator departures?"},{"label":"Regulatory Framework Evolution","query":"How will the proposed 'stricter government oversight' under Senate Bill 2232 integrate with existing PAGCOR licensing and governance frameworks to prevent a further decline in licensed POGO operators?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[163,158,16333],"tags":[23911,405,15789],"class_list":["post-18519","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-finance-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-pagcor","tag-pogos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18519","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18519"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18519\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18551,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18519\/revisions\/18551"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18526"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18519"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18519"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18519"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}