“There are no POGOs in the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport. There never was, and there never will be,” stated CEZA Administrator and CEO Secretary Katrina Ponce Enrile during a joint House hearing on July 31, 2024. She emphasized CEZA’s alignment with national efforts to eliminate the criminal activities associated with Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs).

The hearing focused on investigating criminal activities linked to POGOs, with CEZA invited as a resource speaker. Secretary Enrile was accompanied by her father, former Senate President Juan Ponce Enrile, who is now the Chief Presidential Legal Counsel and the author of Republic Act (RA) 7922, the law that created CEZA.

RA 7922, also known as the Cagayan Special Economic Zone Act of 1995, created CEZA to manage the development of the Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZFP). Covering over 54,000 hectares in the northern Philippines, CEZA was tasked with creating jobs and attracting investments. As a gaming authority, it operates independently of PAGCOR, licensing tourism-related activities, including gaming.

“It will be a great disservice to the President and the rest of our stakeholders if CEZA is unable to clarify and distinguish our business from that of PAGCOR,” Sec. Enrile said. She explained key differences between CEZA’s iGaming licensees and PAGCOR’s POGOs, including:

1. CEZA licenses and regulates but does not operate gaming activities, unlike PAGCOR.

2. CEZA has developed its iGaming regulations over two decades, improving through global benchmarking.

3. CEZA vets and issues working visas, monitoring expatriates within CSEZFP, unlike the widespread operations of PAGCOR’s POGOs.

4. CEZA controls the infrastructure supporting iGaming, ensuring better regulation through dedicated data centers and internet service providers.

5. CEZA, unlike Pagcor, requires a $100 million investment commitment from each Master Licensor.

6. CEZA’s Interactive Gaming Support Service Providers offer outsourced services to credible foreign gaming companies, unlike PAGCOR’s POGOs.

7. PAGCOR allows POGOs to operate nationwide, while CEZA’s licensees are confined to the CSEZFP, making them easier to monitor and regulate.

8. CEZA does not allow sublicensing, which has led to fly-by-night operators in PAGCOR’s POGOs.

9. CEZA controls working visa issuance and limits the number of foreign workers, ensuring a 70% Filipino workforce. POGOs on the other hand employ tens of thousands of foreign workers, mostly with ill-obtained or questionable working visas.

Sec. Enrile also stressed that CEZA has maintained a clean record, with no crimes linked to its gaming operations for over 20 years. “When the interactive gaming industry in CEZA started in 2003, it was very peaceful and orderly,” she said.

She also addressed concerns about the proximity of operators to Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites in Cagayan, stating that the military is aware of the gaming providers and chose an area within CEZA as an EDCA site, reflecting their confidence in the area’s security.

Meanwhile Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, who was also given the chance to deliver his message in addition to the statement of Sec. Enrile, added that CEZA was not only an economic project but also a strategic security measure, aimed at boosting economic resilience in case of calamity or war. “I beg those who have in their minds to destroy CEZA, please stop it! There is a purpose for CEZA, and that purpose is still being pursued,” he said.

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