{"id":777025692,"date":"2025-04-24T02:56:05","date_gmt":"2025-04-24T05:56:05","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777025692"},"modified":"2026-04-21T23:36:26","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T02:36:26","slug":"philippine-supreme-court-affirms-local-autonomy-of-barangays-to-hold-bingo-games","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-supreme-court-affirms-local-autonomy-of-barangays-to-hold-bingo-games","title":{"rendered":"Philippine Supreme Court affirms autonomy of barangays over bingo games"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Barangays can conduct bingo fundraisers without needing permits from PAGCOR or other agencies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- The Supreme Court <\/strong>has allowed three barangays in Baguio City (Trancoville, Military Cut-Off, and Outlook Drive) to hold bingo games as fundraisers without requiring permits from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) or any other government agency.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In a press briefing, SC spokesperson Camille Ting<\/strong> said the court voted 11-4 in favour of the autonomy of barangays. Ting said the Constitution gives barangays the right to run activities that help their communities and raise funds, as long as the activities are legal. She said that Republic Act 9487, PAGCOR’s charter, states that games organised by local government units do not fall under PAGCOR.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Councillor Rocky Aliping<\/strong>, head of the Association of Barangay Councils (ABC) in Baguio City welcomed the decision. He told the Philippine News Agency: “Good news to all barangays who are engaged in having a fundraising activity like bingo. There is no need to secure a permit from PAGCOR and city licensing as long as there is an event, fiesta, special occasion and it is duly approved by the barangay council in a resolution.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Aliping added that there should be clear guidelines to prevent abuse of authority and ensure illegal activities are not approved.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Philippine cardinal expresses concern about increasing accessibility of gambling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David<\/strong> has expressed concern about the increasing availability of online gambling in the country and warned it could lead to a rise in gambling harm. During his homily at the Chrism Mass at San Roque Cathedral on Maundy Thursday, April 17, David said: \u201cBefore, you had to go to a casino. Now, the casino is in your pocket. And it will empty your pockets.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In March, senate president Francis G. Escudero<\/strong> called for a cost-benefit analysis<\/a> to ascertain whether licences granted to PIGOs should continue. He suggested that the operators, which are licensed by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), may have a negative impact on many Filipinos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Claire Castro<\/strong>, undersecretary of the presidential communications office, said the government was conducting studies to evaluate the effects of PIGOs and that president\u00a0Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.\u00a0<\/strong>might impose a ban on\u00a0PIGOs<\/strong>\u00a0if they are found to be causing issues similar to those that led to the shutdown of offshore gaming operators. However, Castro said that PIGOs contribute to the Philippine economy through tax revenues and marketing expenditures.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Barangays can conduct bingo fundraisers without needing permits from PAGCOR or other agencies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":14202,"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 Supreme Court has ruled that local barangays can conduct bingo fundraisers without requiring permits from PAGCOR, affirming local government autonomy. Concurrently, significant regulatory scrutiny is being placed on Philippine Inland Gaming Operators (PIGOs) due to concerns over increasing accessibility of online gambling and potential social harm, with a potential ban being considered despite their economic contributions.","focusai_entities":"Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., PAGCOR, Supreme Court, Camille Ting, Republic Act 9487, Councillor Rocky Aliping, Association of Barangay Councils, ABC, Philippine News Agency, Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, San Roque Cathedral, Senate President Francis G. Escudero, Claire Castro, Presidential Communications Office, President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.","focusai_location":"Philippines, Baguio City, Trancoville, Military Cut-Off, Outlook Drive","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.7), journalist_researcher (0.9)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"PAGCOR's Evolving Mandate?","query":"How will the Supreme Court's ruling on barangay bingo fundraisers redefine PAGCOR's regulatory mandate and enforcement scope, particularly concerning local government unit (LGU) gaming activities?"},{"label":"PIGO Regulatory Outlook?","query":"What specific governance frameworks and responsible gambling measures are being considered by the Philippine government to address concerns about PIGO accessibility and mitigate potential gambling harm, and what is the projected timeline for policy decisions?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[405],"class_list":["post-777025692","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-pagcor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025692","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=777025692"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025692\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777025719,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025692\/revisions\/777025719"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/14202"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777025692"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777025692"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777025692"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}