“There are no POGOS in CEZA”, says CEZA Chief

31 July 2024

By: Asia Gaming Brief

The CEO of the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA), Katrina Ponce Enrile, stated that “There are no POGOs in CEZA. There never were, and there never will be,” during a hearing held by the House Committee on Public Order and Safety on Wednesday morning.

The hearing aimed to clarify whether the interactive gaming licenses issued by CEZA would be affected by the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) ban order, announced on July 22nd during the Philippine President’s State of the Nation Address (SONA).

According to Ferdinand Marcos Jr., the ban order is effective immediately, with a deadline at the end of the year to wind down all POGO operations in the country. However, during the SONA, the order to close down POGOs was issued to PAGCOR, which doesn’t have oversight over CEZA.

During the Wednesday hearing, Congressman Joseph Lara, of Cagayan’s third district, stated that CEZA should not be part of the inquiry.

“I would like to reiterate my point from the last hearing that CEZA is not part of this investigation, as it does not fall under PAGCOR’s jurisdiction. This investigation should focus on the illegal POGOs,” he said.

“Now, the Senate President and the Secretary of one of our agencies should be excused from this discussion. CEZA should not be on the defensive; rather, we should act as resource persons in this matter.”

“Let us concentrate on PAGCOR’s problem. In the last hearing, it was established that PAGCOR has no authority or any provision in its Charter concerning POGOs. This cannot be applied because it is not about offshore gaming; it is about internet gaming.”

As reported previously by AGB, Cagayan, by Charter the first authorized zone to explore online gaming in the Philippines, has been operating in this space for over two decades.

In the same hearing, Katrina Ponce Enrile emphasized that CEZA’s operations are not involved in POGO-related crimes.

She also lamented that CEZA has been losing clients since POGO operations were allowed in the Philippines under Duterte’s Executive Order 13, which was issued in 2017.

Meanwhile, in the same hearing, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, father of Katrina Ponce Enrile, publicly backed President Marcos’ decision to ban POGOs in the country.

“If I were the President, I agree with what he said; I would kick out POGOs in this country,” Enrile said on the sidelines of the House hearing on POGO operations.

“POGO is a money laundering operation,” Enrile added.

Enrile, however, did not directly respond to whether Marcos consulted him regarding the decision to ban POGOs, which the President announced during his recent policy address.

A veteran politician who has served under multiple administrations, Enrile said he never considered POGOs when he advocated for the creation of the CEZA.

In previous interviews with AGB, CEZA’s CEO Katrina Ponce Enrile noted that her father had been instrumental in the creation of PAGCOR’s Charter.

Link: https://agbrief.com/news/philippines/31/07/2024/there-are-no-pogos-in-ceza-says-cagayan-economic-zone-authority-ceo/#:~:text=The%20CEO%20of%20the%20Cagayan,and%20Safety%20on%20Wednesday%20morning.

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