PNP chief general Benjamin Acorda has expressed his support for the end of POGO operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
The Philippines.- Senator Sherwin Gatchalian’s proposal to ban offshore gambling operators (POGOs) continues to gain support.\u00a0During a Senate hearing on the proposed budget of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) and its affiliated agencies, the Philippine National Police’s (PNP) chief general Benjamin Acorda expressed support for ending POGO operations.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Acorda said that while the number of reported crimes attributed to POGOs has fallen, the severity of these offences has increased.\u00a0PNP data has revealed that\u00a0in the first six months of this year<\/a>\u00a0there were 4,039 victims of POGO-related crimes, compared to 128 victims in 39 crimes in 2022.<\/p>\n\n\n\n The crimes associated with the industry range from human trafficking and abduction to homicide, illegal detention, kidnapping-for-ransom, theft, robbery-extortion, serious physical injuries, swindling, grave coercion, investment scams, cryptocurrency scams and love scams.<\/p>\n\n\n\n Senator Gatchalian, who chairs the\u00a0Senate Committee on Ways and Means<\/a>, has called for the end of POGOs due to the harm they cause to the country’s international reputation and the strain placed on law enforcement.\u00a0Gatchalian contends that diverting attention to the industry deprives other sectors. Senate minority floor leader\u00a0Franklin Drilon<\/a> has backed the call. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" PNP chief general Benjamin Acorda has expressed his support for the end of POGO operations.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777009719,"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 Philippine National Police (PNP) chief, General Benjamin Acorda, has publicly supported Senator Sherwin Gatchalian's proposal to ban Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs). This endorsement stems from an observed increase in the severity of POGO-related crimes, despite a potential decrease in their overall number, alongside concerns regarding the nation's international reputation and strain on law enforcement resources.","focusai_entities":"Benjamin Acorda, Sherwin Gatchalian, Franklin Drilon, Philippine National Police (PNP), Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG), Senate Committee on Ways and Means","focusai_location":"Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.85), payments_fraud_aml (0.9), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.85), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Economic Impact Assessment","query":"What is the projected economic impact, including tax revenue loss and job displacement, if the Philippines fully implements a POGO ban, and how does this compare to the societal costs of POGO-related crimes?"},{"label":"Regulatory Transition Plan","query":"What specific regulatory and enforcement frameworks are being considered to manage the transition away from POGO operations, particularly concerning existing licensees and potential illicit market migration?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[15789],"class_list":["post-777010013","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-pogos"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777010013","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=777010013"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777010013\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777041175,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777010013\/revisions\/777041175"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777009719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777010013"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777010013"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777010013"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}