POGO singilin sa utang na buwis

DAPAT umano ay singilin na lamang ng gobyerno ang utang sa buwis ng Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators sa halip na payagang mag-operate ang mga ito.

Ayon kay House Deputy Speaker Bro. Eddie Villanueva hindi muna dapat payagan ng gobyerno na mag-operate ang mga POGO dahil sa panganib na kumalat ang coronavirus disease 2019.

“If the government wants additional cash for its pandemic response efforts, it should just make POGOs pay its tax delinquencies and other billions of obligations to public coffers, period,” ani Villanueva.

Sinabi ni Villanueva na target ng gobyerno na makalikom ng P600 milyon sa isang buwang limitadong operasyon ng POGO para magamit sa paglaban sa COVID-19 pero sa pagdinig ng Senado ay lumabas na halos P50 bilyong buwis umano ang hindi nababayaran ng mga ito.

“Why not just make them pay their due, why allow them continue their business when it will clearly put at risk the entire efforts of the government to contain the spread of COVID-19 virus? The entire country is enduring lockdown and other more essential industries are mandated to stop just to arrest this pandemic, then here we are, we will allow an industry which barely benefitted us to resume business and make profits again, – it’s just an incoherent policy,” punto pa ng solon mula sa CIBAC partylist.

Inaprubahan ng Inter Agency Task Force for Emerging Infectious Diseases ang rekomendasyon ng Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp., na payagang pagbabalik ng 30 porsyento ng operasyon ng POGO sa mga quarantine areas.

“If these POGO companies have stubbornly refused to pay taxes in the past, there’s no assurance that it will do it now so why endanger the lives of Filipinos by allowing their offices and junket casinos be possible hotbeds of infections. It’s just baffling why the government seems making itself “obliged” to help this gambling industry operate amidst this crisis?”