{"id":777009537,"date":"2023-09-22T06:43:41","date_gmt":"2023-09-22T09:43:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777009537"},"modified":"2026-04-22T17:50:22","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T20:50:22","slug":"ned-director-supports-proposal-to-ban-pogos","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/ned-director-supports-proposal-to-ban-pogos","title":{"rendered":"NED director supports proposal to ban POGOs"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>Arsenio Balisacan has expressed his support for a ban on offshore gaming operators.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- Socio-economic planning secretary and director general of the National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Arsenio Balisacan has given his support to the proposal to ban Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs). Balisacan said POGOs have adverse societal consequences, including criminal activities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He emphasised the importance of attracting legitimate, quality investments that contribute positively to the nation&#8217;s economy and social development. Balisacan is optimistic that new investments can replace any potential revenue loss resulting from the end of POGO operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-senate-committee-recommends-shutdown-of-pogos\" target=\"_blank\">The Senate Ways and Means Committee<\/a>\u00a0has recommended permanently expelling POGOs, citing reasons related to public safety and economic stability. It urges the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to revoke working visas and implement deportation measures for foreign nationals involved in the POGO sector.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to data from the Philippine National Police (PNP),\u00a0POGO-related crimes affected 4,355 victims and involved 903 perpetrators from January 2017 to June 30, 2023. They included human trafficking, abduction, homicide, illegal detention, theft and robbery-extortion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Arsenio Balisacan has expressed his support for a ban on offshore gaming operators.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":19174,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Socio-economic planning secretary Arsenio Balisacan has publicly endorsed a ban on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), citing significant societal harms and criminal activities. This move, supported by the Senate Ways and Means Committee, aims to attract legitimate investments and enhance public safety, despite potential revenue displacement. The proposal includes revoking visas and deporting foreign nationals involved in the sector.","focusai_entities":"Arsenio Balisacan, National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA), Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), Senate Ways and Means Committee, Bureau of Immigration (BI), Philippine National Police (PNP)","focusai_location":"Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.9), affiliate_publisher (0.7), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (1.0), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"POGO Ban Economic Impact?","query":"What is the projected net economic impact of a complete POGO expulsion on the Philippine economy, considering both direct revenue loss and the potential for replacement by 'legitimate, quality investments'?"},{"label":"Regulatory Enforcement Timeline?","query":"What specific timeline and enforcement mechanisms will the Bureau of Immigration and other agencies implement for the revocation of working visas and deportation of foreign nationals associated with POGOs?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[23911,15789],"class_list":["post-777009537","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-gambling-regulation","tag-pogos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777009537","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=777009537"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777009537\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777041276,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777009537\/revisions\/777041276"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19174"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777009537"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777009537"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777009537"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}