The public in the Philippines is urged to expose any illegal POGO workers attempting to hide among them.
After the President of the Philippines announced a ban on the online gambling industry, Representative Robert Ace Barbers of the second district of Northern Surigao expressed his support for this view in an interview with Philippine news outlets.
He also added that the public could use "various social media platforms, or report directly to the relevant local government departments, immigration authorities, and law enforcement officers about the situation of 'underground' POGO offices and their staff in their area."
Following the issuance of the ban on online gambling in the Philippines, various parties have made clarifications. Recently, Katrina Ponce Enrile, the Director and CEO of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), confirmed that "there are no online gambling companies (POGO) within the Cagayan Economic Zone and Freeport, neither in the past nor will there be in the future."
The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority was established under Republic Act No. 7922 (the 1995 Cagayan Economic Zone Act), serving both as a gaming regulator and an economic zone.
While earlier discussions highlighted more apparent impacts such as job losses, national tax revenue losses, and other concerns, Deputy Speaker David Suarez claimed that since the implementation of the ban, the number of SMS scams has significantly decreased.
He stated that this indicates that online gambling companies had been used for criminal activities, and the ban was the right move to address this issue.
