Key points:
- PAGCOR has approved PHP 50m in funding to help deport foreign workers employed by illegal POGOs
- The move aims to support the Philippine Government’s crackdown on unlicensed offshore gaming operations
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) has committed PHP 50m ($890,000) to support the Bureau of Immigration (BI) in funding the deportation of foreign workers employed by illegal offshore gaming operators.
The financial assistance was formalised through a Memorandum of Agreement signed on 30 June at PAGCOR's Pasay City headquarters.
PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Alejandro H. Tengco stated that the funding will cover repatriation expenses for illegal POGO workers currently detained at BI facilities who lack the resources to return to their home countries.
“These individuals are unable to return to their home countries because they cannot afford a plane ticket,” Tengco explained, “This grant will ensure they receive assistance in accordance with international laws and humanitarian considerations.”
Good to know: The grant will be disbursed in two equal tranches of PHP 25m each, with the first instalment released during the signing ceremony
The initiative represents part of PAGCOR's broader efforts to support the Government's crackdown on illegal offshore gaming operations, following President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.'s directive to ban such activities.
Tengco emphasised that the collaboration extends beyond simple deportation, aiming to ensure only legitimate gaming operations function within Philippine jurisdiction.
The POGO deportation funding represents one of several recent PAGCOR initiatives demonstrating the agency's expanded role in social responsibility. Recent weeks have seen PAGCOR donate PHP 20m worth of patient transport vehicles to local government units and state universities, as well as providing PHP 6.8m to Quirino Memorial Medical Center for neonatal incubators.
