{"id":7077,"date":"2020-06-05T19:51:22","date_gmt":"2020-06-05T19:51:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=7077"},"modified":"2026-04-24T04:39:49","modified_gmt":"2026-04-24T07:39:49","slug":"pogos-covid-19-tests","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pogos-covid-19-tests","title":{"rendered":"POGOs’ Covid-19 tests privately funded"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

ASPAP spokesperson Margarita Gutierrez has said the government was not covering the cost of testing POGO workers and their families.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Philippines.- The Accredited Service Providers Association of Pagcor (ASPAP) has issued a statement saying the Philippines government was not providing funding for Covid-19 testing for Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators’ (POGO) foreign workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

ASPAP spokesperson Margarita Gutierrez said \u201ctime and again, we\u2019ve been telling people that the government is not shouldering the costs of tests for POGO workers.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cASPAP and other service providers are the ones providing free testing for Filipino workers and even for their families.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She also denied the existence of underground or illegal hospitals managed by POGO service providers (PSP) exclusively for foreign workers infected with Covid-19. She said PSP establishments had company clinics as allowed by law.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said: “This is not similar to the care and confinement administered by hospitals. In addition, these clinics are well aware and equipped with the necessary safeguards and health protocols to battle against COVID-19.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gutierrez said that the PSPs themselves were implementing the protocols, as well as disciplinary measures. She said the Department of Labor and Employment and the Bureau of Immigration had been carrying out checks to ensure foreign employees had e valid documents and work permits. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cPAGCOR<\/a><\/em><\/strong> also conducts random inspection, together with the LGU, to make sure that nobody is working (during the lockdown) in their office sites, which service providers have declared as part of the requirements for their operation,\u201d Gutierrez added in a statement made to the Manila Standard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gutierrez said the ASPAP supported the government in shutting down non-accredited offshore gaming operators (NOGO), saying they endangered the progress and development of the country\u2019s gaming industry, which offered the chance to raise billions for government funding to tackle Covid-19.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

At a senate hearing conducted on June 2, senate minority leader, Franklin Drilon, proposed an amendment to Senate Bill No. 1564<\/a><\/em><\/strong> to dedicate billions of unpaid POGO taxes to the government\u2019s Covid-19 response.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

ASPAP spokesperson Margarita Gutierrez has said the government was not covering the cost of testing POGO workers and their families.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7078,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"The Accredited Service Providers Association of Pagcor (ASPAP) clarifies that the Philippine government is not funding COVID-19 testing for foreign POGO workers, with service providers bearing these costs and denying operating illegal hospitals. ASPAP supports the crackdown on non-accredited operators, emphasizing the industry's potential to generate significant tax revenue for the nation's COVID-19 response, amidst proposals to dedicate unpaid POGO taxes to this effort.","focusai_entities":"ASPAP, Margarita Gutierrez, PAGCOR, Department of Labor and Employment, Bureau of Immigration, Franklin Drilon, Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), Philippine Service Providers (PSP), Non-Accredited Offshore Gaming Operators (NOGO)","focusai_location":"Philippines, Manila","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), investor_analyst (0.85), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"POGO Tax Collection Outlook","query":"What is the current status of the proposed amendment to Senate Bill No. 1564, and what is the projected timeline for the collection and allocation of unpaid POGO taxes for COVID-19 response?"},{"label":"NOGO Enforcement Impact","query":"How will the intensified crackdown on Non-Accredited Offshore Gaming Operators (NOGOs) impact the overall GGR and NGR contributions from the legitimate POGO sector, and what are the long-term implications for B2B\/B2C licensing frameworks in the Philippines?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[153,16333],"tags":[15789],"class_list":["post-7077","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-igaming-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-pogos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077","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\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=7077"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":7100,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7077\/revisions\/7100"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=7077"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=7077"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=7077"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}