The Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas began studying the economic impact of the rapidly-growing offshore gaming operations in the country, focusing on the possible financial stability risks that could come from the sector.
BSP Governor Benjamin Diokno said in a panel discussion during the midyear economic forum organized by the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines in Manila that the regulator wanted to find out the financial risks associated with the so-called Philippine offshore gaming operations.
“I don’t know but we are studying to find out what good it is going to bring for the country. One of the BSP’s mandates is financial stability, so we want to see the financial risks [associated with it] so we study the POGO issue,” Diokno said.
Diokno said the BSP would assess the impact of the possible sudden departure of POGOs on the real estate sector.
“What if they leave? What will be the impact to the property sector?” he said, referring to earlier reports that POGO operations were causing the increasing take-up of office space and residential spaces in Metro Manila.
“You know the GFC started in the real estate sector, not from banks itself,” he said, pertaining to the global financial crisis that rocked the global financial markets some 11 years ago.
Both the Asian financial crisis in 1997 and the 2008 financial crisis weighed down on the Philippine economy.
Diokno the Bangko Sentral could also require banks to provide pertinent information regarding their loans to POGOs.
“Yes, we can require the banks in relation to our mandate of financial stability. We can do it,” he said.
Economic Planning Secretary Ernesto Pernia said the National Economic and Development Authority had not yet quantified the value-added impact of POGO operations.
“We have not yet studied that,” he said. Pernia said he was in favor of POGOs going to the regions instead of concentrating in Metro Manila.
“There are too many buildings in Manila. They should locate in the regions so that there would be improvements in the regions,” Pernia said.
“They must also be regulated on where they should operate,” he said.
The Chinese embassy earlier asked the Philippine government to crack down on POGOs, saying several Chinese citizens were illegally recruited and hired in offshore gaming operations in the Philippines.
State-run Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. said it stopped accepting new applications for offshore online gaming licenses after Beijing called on Manila to crack down on gambling operations targeting its citizens.
Pagcor chairman Andrea Domingo said the agency would “stop first and look at other concerns that we have not met comfortably.”
The Labor Department and the Bureau of Immigration, in a report to Finance Secretary Carlos Dominguez, came up with a reconciled list of 138,001 POGO workers, of which 54,241 were issued alien employment permits and another 83,760 were granted special working permits.