(Courtesy of SPD-PIO)
MANILA – Overstaying workers of shuttered Philippine Overseas Gaming Operators (POGOs) will begin their journey home this week even as documents show the country has lost billions in underdeclared tax payments.
Five or six Chinese nationals are scheduled for the initial deportation on Wednesday while the others are still under verification, according to Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla.
“It will be a self-deportation. They will be the ones paying,” Remulla said during a press briefing on Tuesday. “The BI (Bureau of Immigration) has already canceled their visas."
The DOJ estimates that up to 40,000 workers from 175 POGOs with terminated licenses will have to be sent home.
The initial target for deportation this month is set at 3,000 foreign nationals.
Senator Sherwin Gatchalian lamented that the government lost billions in earnings due to tax underdeclaration even by legitimate POGO firms, according to documents submitted by the Bureau of Internal Revenue and Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation.
“It is regrettable that even legitimate POGOs are remiss in the payment of correct taxes. This is the exact reason a tax regime for POGOs was put in place, which is to reduce uncollected taxes due the government. It is lamentable that even licensed POGOs continue to disregard accurate payment of taxes,” Gatchalian said in a statement.
The chair of the Committee on Ways and Means that is investigating the economic effects of POGO in the country said there is an estimated tax leakage of PHP1.9 billion due to the discrepancy of gross gaming revenues from January to August this year.
He said it is about time that the country consider developing other industries that are sustainable, high-yielding, and long-term as studies show the country is not getting the full benefits from POGO.
Under Republic Act 11590 or the law taxing POGOs, 60 percent of the total revenues collected from the gaming tax on offshore gaming licenses shall be allocated in the following manner: 60 percent for the implementation of the Universal Health Care Act; 20 percent for the Health Facilities Enhancement Program; and 20 percent for the attainment of the Sustainable Development Goals. (PNA)
