{"id":26118,"date":"2022-01-10T09:28:16","date_gmt":"2022-01-10T12:28:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=26118"},"modified":"2026-04-23T12:25:07","modified_gmt":"2026-04-23T15:25:07","slug":"philippines-two-christian-groups-join-forces-against-casino-in-opol","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippines-two-christian-groups-join-forces-against-casino-in-opol","title":{"rendered":"Philippines: Two Christian groups join forces against casino in Opol"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The archbishop of Cagayan de Oro was joined by the Iglesia Filipina Independiente to start an anti-casino campaign.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- Criticism against a new PAGCOR casino venue, the Grand Imperial, is growing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Days after the Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro published an open letter against the casino venue<\/a> in Barangay Taboc, members of the Iglesia Filipina Independiente (IFI) also expressed their opposition against the casino complex.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The leaders of the two religious groups will start a signature campaign against the casino while Archbishop Jose Cabantan <\/strong>is preparing a new letter against the gambling hub.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to Rappler, IFI Bishop Felixberto Calang of Cagayan de Oro <\/strong>stated: “IFI strongly opposes any form of gambling. Casino promotes games of chance, gambling.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He then added the casino is located near an IFI church, something that is seen as an offence for the religious group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monsignor Rey Monsanto<\/strong>, the parish priest of the Barangay Camaman-an Church of Our Lady of Fatima, Cagayan de Oro, had previously said that when the casino opened, the residents were “surprised”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Archdiocese learned of its existence through Father Joel Oga, the priest of the Diocese of Opol.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Monsanto even stated: “We will vigorously oppose its operation and would even resort to picketing its entrances.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Last November, several Catholic church leaders<\/a> also expressed their opposition to the country\u2019s e-sabong bill.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The archbishop of Cagayan de Oro was joined by the Iglesia Filipina Independiente to start an anti-casino campaign.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":20663,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Religious factions in Cagayan de Oro, Philippines, notably the Archdiocese and Iglesia Filipina Independiente, have intensified their opposition to the new PAGCOR-licensed Grand Imperial casino, initiating a signature campaign and citing moral objections alongside its proximity to religious sites. This escalating local resistance presents a material challenge to the venue's social license to operate and could prompt a review of B2C licensing and community engagement protocols within the jurisdiction.","focusai_entities":"Archdiocese of Cagayan de Oro, Iglesia Filipina Independiente, PAGCOR, Grand Imperial, Archbishop Jose Cabantan, Rappler, IFI Bishop Felixberto Calang, Monsignor Rey Monsanto, Father Joel Oga, Diocese of Opol","focusai_location":"Philippines, Cagayan de Oro, Barangay Taboc, Barangay Camaman-an, Opol","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (0.95), compliance_legal (0.85), operator_casino (0.95), marketing_crm (0.75), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"PAGCOR's Response","query":"What specific regulatory actions or policy adjustments is PAGCOR contemplating in response to the escalating religious and community opposition against the Grand Imperial casino, and how might this precedent impact future B2C licensing and governance frameworks for gaming verticals in the Philippines?"},{"label":"Operator Mitigation","query":"Beyond immediate public relations, what comprehensive operational and stakeholder engagement strategies is the Grand Imperial's operator deploying to mitigate the reputational and potential revenue impacts of this sustained anti-casino campaign, particularly concerning long-term social license to operate?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[28,16333],"tags":[229,23911,23907],"class_list":["post-26118","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-casino-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-land-based-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26118","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=26118"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26118\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":26129,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/26118\/revisions\/26129"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20663"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=26118"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=26118"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=26118"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}