Taxing POGOs did not legalize them: Former Senator Tito Sotto

The law taxing Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs) did not legalize their operations, according to former Senate President Vicente “Tito” Sotto III.

Sotto believes former President Rodrigo Duterte had the prerogative to ban Pogos. Sotto also defended Republic Act 11590, the law passed during his tenure as Senate President, which amended the internal revenue code to tax these operations.

“The critics, what would they have wanted? That POGOs was continued without taxed? Nasa presidente yon. Sana pinigil ng presidente eh. Hinayaan, binigyan ng PAGCOR, hinayaan nila eh. So ano ang ginawa ng kongreso, teka muna? Wala napapala ang gobyerno diyan. I-tax natin. We did not legalize it. We merely taxed it. What would they have wanted, di ba? Eh di tuloy tuloy [yung operations],” Sotto explained in Philippine Daily Inquirer’s video interview released on October 22, 2024.

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(“The critics, what would they have wanted? That POGOs continued without being taxed? That’s the president’s call. The president should have stopped it. But it was allowed, PAGCOR was involved, they allowed it. So what did Congress do? Hold on, the government isn’t benefiting from this. Let’s tax it. We did not legalize it. We merely taxed it. What would they have wanted, right? So the operations continued)

Sotto added that taxing POGOs helped classify legitimate operators from illegal ones.

For him, the Congress “should be praised because we exposed and stopped illegal operations.”

He also noted that if a bill had been filed to declare POGOs illegal, he would have supported it.

Sotto served as Senate President from 2018 to 2022 and is eyeing a Senate return in 2025. Sotto was also endorsed by President Ferdinand Marcos Jr., who spurred a crackdown on POGO operations during his third State of the Nation Address in July.

Read related article: Duterte’s executive order about POGOs scrutinized for “encroaching” on Congress