The ‘hole of government’ approach

President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. has been quoted in the news as saying that “they are using the whole of government approach in dealing with POGO in the Philippines.”

I don’t know who organized the event and wrote the speech, but it was strange for the President to talk about “the whole of government approach to POGO” while giving out assistance to farmers hit hard by El Niño. What do farmers care about POGO except for those money laundering “mainland Chinese” buyers of agricultural products?

It was even stranger to hear PBBM use the term “whole of government” in terms of dealing with the curse of POGO because many citizens are already of the impression that the real reason why POGO can’t be stopped is because many in government, politics and the private sector are cashing in on POGO.

As folks in the streets say, “mabubutasan sila” if POGO is stopped, referring to suspected officials and politicians. Like a major corporation, POGO is too big to fail in the Philippines because of “the hole of government” or the bottomless pit of profits that corrupt officials partake in for personal, business or political gain, especially with the coming 2025 elections.

As it turns out, POGO operators have enough money stashed away to “own” a town, a commercial strip in Metro Manila or fund several legislators and retain many law offices. That does not even count commercial buildings, resorts, condos and hectares and hectares of land leased or “owned” by POGO operators through dummies.

According to Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, the bank accounts of “Alice Guo” contained billions of pesos. The question is how did this happen? The general impression is that banks are very wary about money laundering and immediately challenge deposits above P500,000, especially deposits coming from foreign sources.

Is there a special system or arrangement that categorizes POGO deposits and transactions or money transfers as protected under the bank secrecy law? Because of the Alice Guo case, it now becomes necessary for Congress and the Senate to review and rewrite the bank secrecy law.

If the “whole of government” were really tapped to audit who is in or benefits from POGO operations, I’m sure the NBI, BIR, AMLA, BSP and judiciary would have years of prosecutorial work coming out of POGO operations.

Unfortunately, another “hole of government” comes in the form of the almost intentional underfunding of key departments and agencies, particularly the DOJ and the DILG. Secretary Remulla has said before that they don’t even have the money to run certain operations pertinent to cybercrimes and security.

The Bureau of Immigration is comparatively antiquated, almost unfunded relative to their contribution to national security, while our law enforcement bodies are but a handful in contrast to the thousands of islands and municipalities they have to patrol and secure.

President Bongbong Marcos Jr. would have been better off not talking about his “whole of government approach” because that made him suffer in comparison to the former president Rodrigo Duterte.

PBBM needs the whole of government to control POGO in the Philippines while Rodrigo Duterte simply spoke the word and it was done! People might recall how ex-president Duterte simply uttered the words: “No more online sabong!” and just like that, all the online operators all over the country packed it up and made no attempts to delay or lawyer up.

All that Digong needed to hear was that kids and laborers were gambling away their money, that 10 sabungeros suspected of fight fixing disappeared. Once the media put it all out, Duterte said “Stop e-sabong” and it was done.

In comparison, many POGO operators in the country have been branded as criminals and crime gangs, kidnappers, killers, human traffickers, online scammers, operators of prostitution hubs, torturers, transnational criminal syndicates, money launderers, potential “expeditionary” forces etc., etc.

But the “hole of government” allows these undesirable elements to malinger in the Philippines. Because the “hole of government” is one humongous hole!

Beginning with lapses in immigration control and national policy, lax or corrupt business registrations and documentations facilitated by profit-oriented law firms and corrupt LGUs. Weak police checks, clearances and failure in intelligence gathering and sharing.

Failure of regulatory agencies and departments such as DILG, SEC, BIR, Bureau of Fire, provincial and municipal governments and the regional PNP, BSP, PAGCOR and worst of all is the government initiated “gambling culture.”

Whether it is by conspiracy or omission, the fact that so many crimes have been committed, have gone unchecked, shows that the whole of government lost control of governance, turning the whole of government into a hole of shame!

If PBBM is serious about dealing with the problem of POGO, then he should say the words “STOP POGO,”perhaps during the SONA this month. Otherwise, he is simply making utterances that amount to nothing.

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How many more “Alice Guos” are there pretending to be Filipinos, probably thousands, but most of them are just illegal migrants getting away from China. While all eyes are on Central Luzon and some town in Davao, I suggest that those in hot pursuit should conduct a sweep of hardware and dry goods stores built from 2000 to 2024.

Readers surely remember the controversy over Mainland Chinese vendors running stalls all over Divisoria and the malls therein. As a result of the controversy, succeeding flocks of Mainland Chinese chose to go outside Metro Manila.

In Batangas province I remember that in pre-COVID times, their business of choice was putting up hardware stores. They were welcomed by the local community for the jobs they created, not realizing that these individuals were violating immigration and retail laws of the Philippines. In the Alice Guo case, they have evidently gone big time!