{"id":777029347,"date":"2025-07-22T08:48:56","date_gmt":"2025-07-22T11:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777029347"},"modified":"2026-04-21T20:47:04","modified_gmt":"2026-04-21T23:47:04","slug":"philippine-church-insists-on-total-gambling-ban","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-church-insists-on-total-gambling-ban","title":{"rendered":"Philippine Church joins calls for online gambling ban"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Cardinal David said addiction outweighs state revenue benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David<\/strong>, president of the Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), has joined calls for a ban on online gambling in the Philippines. Speaking at the 11th Philippine Conference on New Evangelisation in Manila, said problems with addiction outweighed any state revenue benefits.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

According to The Inquirer, David said Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) chair Alejandro Tengco<\/strong> had responded to a CBCP pastoral letter, emphasising the revenue online gambling generates<\/a>. David criticised such logic, suggesting that by the same reasoning, the government should legalise harmful drugs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

David questioned the claim that access to online gambling can be controlled and alleged that gambling addiction is a form of \u201cmodern slavery”.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Vice president Sara Duterte has come out against online gambling<\/a> as calls for a ban<\/a> grow among Philippine politicians. She said that digital platforms make gambling too accessible, leading to rapid financial losses and worsening family debt. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Meanwhile, finance secretary Ralph Recto has made the case for raising taxes and tightening regulations<\/a> on online gambling operators rather than a ban, and senator\u00a0Sherwin Gatchalian<\/a>\u00a0has also filed a bill proposing tighter restrictions without a full ban. <\/p>\n\n\n

\n\t\t\tSee also:<\/span><\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\"\"<\/p>\n

\n\t\t\t\t\tSee also:<\/span> Philippine VP Sara Duterte backs calls for ban on online gambling<\/a>\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cardinal David said addiction outweighs state revenue benefits.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":226,"featured_media":15535,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David and Vice President Sara Duterte advocate for a comprehensive ban on online gambling in the Philippines, citing severe societal costs such as addiction and escalating family debt, which they argue outweigh state revenue benefits. Conversely, Finance Secretary Ralph Recto and Senator Sherwin Gatchalian propose a regulatory tightening and increased taxation framework as an alternative to a full prohibition, acknowledging the sector's fiscal contributions.","focusai_entities":"Cardinal Pablo Virgilio David, Catholic Bishops\u2019 Conference of the Philippines (CBCP), Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), Alejandro Tengco, The Inquirer, Sara Duterte, Ralph Recto, Sherwin Gatchalian","focusai_location":"Philippines, Manila","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (1.0), affiliate_publisher (0.85), product_ux (0.7), tech_data (0.7), marketing_crm (0.85), payments_fraud_aml (0.8), investor_analyst (0.95), supplier_vendor (0.9), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on PAGCOR Revenue?","query":"What is the projected fiscal impact on PAGCOR's revenue streams and the national budget if a full ban on online gambling is implemented, considering current taxation frameworks?"},{"label":"Regulatory Alternatives Analysis?","query":"Beyond a full ban, what specific regulatory and taxation models are being considered by the Philippine government to mitigate social harms while retaining economic benefits from online gambling?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[4138,128,337],"class_list":["post-777029347","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-online-gambling","tag-philippines","tag-regulation"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029347","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\/226"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777029347"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029347\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777029374,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777029347\/revisions\/777029374"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/15535"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777029347"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777029347"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777029347"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}