{"id":777016892,"date":"2024-07-02T09:24:47","date_gmt":"2024-07-02T12:24:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777016892"},"modified":"2026-04-22T08:33:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T11:33:08","slug":"philippine-senate-to-probe-ex-cabinet-officials-role-in-licensing-gaming-operators","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-senate-to-probe-ex-cabinet-officials-role-in-licensing-gaming-operators","title":{"rendered":"Philippine Senate to probe ex-cabinet official\u2019s role in licensing gaming operators"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>The Senate has called PAGCOR&#8217;s chairman Alejandro Tengco to give details.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality will hold an inquiry into claims that a former cabinet official was allegedly involved in issuing licences to illegal gambling operators. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros has invited Alejandro H. Tengco, chairman and CEO of\u00a0the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to attend on July 10 after he <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pagcor-chairman-calls-for-investigation-of-officials-who-helped-pogos-gain-licences\">claimed<\/a> a former high-ranking government official in the previous administration facilitated the grant of gaming licences to some operators that have since been raided.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>According to the Philippines News Agency, Hontiveros said: \u201cWe are calling a next hearing and I hope the PAGCOR chief deems it the right forum to reveal what he knows. Whoever the ex-cabinet official turns out to be, the fact remains: POGOs are being used as a legal cover for scam hubs.&#8221; Tengco has confirmed his attendance at the Senate hearing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said PAGCOR must disclose all the information it has. \u201cGovernment officials involved in illegal and criminal activities must be held accountable,&#8221; he said. Senate president Francis Escudero said the former official should be identified in the hearing to prevent suspicion from falling on all former high-ranking cabinet officials.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also: <\/strong><a target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/pagcor-revenue-from-offshore-gaming-operators-rose-by-71-in-2023-lawmaker-says\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">PAGCOR revenue from offshore gaming operators rose by 71% in 2023, lawmaker says<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The Senate has called PAGCOR&#8217;s chairman Alejandro Tengco to give details.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777012806,"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 Senate is initiating an inquiry into allegations that a former cabinet official facilitated the issuance of gaming licenses to illegal gambling operators, specifically POGOs. PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro Tengco has been summoned to provide details, as the Senate seeks to identify the official and address the use of POGOs as fronts for scam hubs.","focusai_entities":"Alejandro Tengco, Risa Hontiveros, Sherwin Gatchalian, Francis Escudero, PAGCOR, Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality, Philippines News Agency","focusai_location":"Philippines","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"PAGCOR Licensing Protocols?","query":"What specific enhancements will PAGCOR implement in its B2B\/B2C licensing and due diligence protocols to prevent future corruption and ensure robust regulatory compliance?"},{"label":"Market Integrity Impact?","query":"What is the projected impact of this Senate inquiry on the Philippines' overall iGaming market integrity, foreign investment appeal, and the operational landscape for legitimate operators?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[156,158,16333],"tags":[405],"class_list":["post-777016892","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-regulation-news","category-slider-home","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-pagcor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777016892","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=777016892"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777016892\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777016913,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777016892\/revisions\/777016913"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777012806"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777016892"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777016892"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777016892"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}