SENATOR Emmanuel J. Villanueva is drafting a resolution calling for an investigation into Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and the industry’s failure to remit tax to the Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR).
“Five or six firms pa lang ang nagbabayad at pinagmamalaking ng mga spokespersons nila na ang laki-laki ng P200 million na nakolekta (Only five or six firms have paid and the BIR’s spokespersons have been talking up the P200 million the bureau has collected,” Mr. Villanueva, who chairs the committee on labor, employment and human resources development, said in a briefing, Monday.
“The Department of Finance (DoF) mentioned na P2-3 billion a month na nawawala sa atin (the government loses P2-3 billion a month from unremitted tax).”
The industry’s failure to withhold tax on the salaries of unregistered foreign workers has been estimated by the DoF as costing the government about P2 billion in foregone revenue each month for every 100,000 workers.
Mr. Villanueva also noted that there are 15 firms registered with the BIR and 58 more with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).
Mr. Villanueva will also look into the registration of POGO workers as well as their possible effect to the economy, tourism and national security.
“I wanted to file a reso to look into this. We wanted to look at what they are doing, if they are now registering… nung last hearing sabi ng PAGCOR they have no idea as to what number,” he also said (at the last hearing PAGCOR could not estimate their numbers).
“I think we all have to get our act together on this particular issue. Not just the tax side (but also) security.” — Charmaine A. Tadalan
