Lost in gambling and still borrowing money to break even? Filipinos are being double-hit by "online gambling + online loans"!

Philippine Senator Sherwin Gatchalian recently publicly warned that the collaboration between online gambling and high-interest loan apps is trapping more and more Filipinos in a vicious cycle of debt.

"Many people initially gamble just for fun, but they end up losing all their savings by accident," he said. "When they want to recover their losses but have no money, they download online loan apps to borrow at high interest rates, and the more they borrow, the more they lose, eventually becoming unable to repay."

The debt snowball grows larger

Many people anonymously seek help on online forums, with one person confessing: "I already owe money to 10 apps, and I can't pay off the old ones without borrowing new ones, living in fear every day."

These online loan apps provide loans very quickly, but the interest rates are frighteningly high and the terms are extremely harsh, some even lacking a formal financial license.

Violent collection practices and privacy exposure

What is more disturbing is that some illegal apps, when borrowers fail to repay, resort to violent debt collection, exposing contact lists, and even calling relatives and friends to insult them, severely violating privacy.

Senator Gatchalian has submitted a motion to the Senate, calling for an urgent investigation into whether these online loan platforms are involved in illegal lending, harassing borrowers, and misusing data, and demanding that relevant departments shut down unlicensed apps that pose hidden risks.

"The most vulnerable in our society should no longer be exploited by this systematic scheme," he said.