Ignored

Donald Trump, to no one’s surprise, moved effectivity of his “reciprocal” tariffs from July 9 to Aug. 1.

No one budged. The New York stock exchange actually gained. Markets everywhere else performed as normal. No one relished the aggravation Trump brings.

The boisterous American president is being ignored by the world. What else does one do with a madman ranting from the hilltop?

Trump imagines himself as some ancient Greek god hurling tariff thunderbolts from his perch. Mere mortals can only teach themselves to ignore the noise and carry on as usual. We have a new world to build.

The tariffs have been correctly read as Trump’s puny instruments to win leverage and bully everyone else in pursuit of an unattainable goal: American re-industrialization. This forlorn crusade can only bring devastation to the US economy – even as the rest of the world will pay the price of prolonged uncertainty for investments and constrained trade flows. Eventually the world will make the adjustments and move on from American isolationism.

This week, Trump crossed a line. He decreed 50 percent tariffs on Brazil for daring to prosecute coup plotter Jair Bolsonaro. There was no economic reason for this. Trump was attempting to rescue a friend he encouraged to attempt a coup on a duly elected government. An additional 10 percent tariff probably awaits Brazil just for being part of the BRICS initiative.

From this point on, there are no more guardrails preventing Trump from penalizing another nation’s trade for domestic policies the White House disagrees with. The entire global trading system lies vulnerable to the most whimsical pronouncements of a reality show star. The rest of the world is left with no choice but to rebuild institutions of global trade from beyond Trump’s reach.

Brazil paid no heed to Trump’s threats. This week, the large South American country sealed a 20-year trade deal with China. This is the way most other nations would go.

The Philippines, by the way, has been slapped a 20 percent “reciprocal” tariff. This will harm our meager exports and discourage investments. But how can we reason with an unreasonable American president?

Trump, after all, ignored the trade treaty between the US, Mexico and Canada by imposing punitive tariffs on two of America’s biggest and most proximate trading partners. He imposed punitive tariffs on South Korea, which is party to a free trade agreement with the US. He threatened private companies like Apple for producing phones in India. There are no limits on Trump’s destructiveness.

The drop in oil prices masked the inflationary impact of Trump’s wild economic policies. But that is merely temporary. Towards the end of this year, the full inflationary impact of Trump’s policies will be felt.

Other leaders have tried to exploit Trump’s vulnerable ego by flattery – as in Israel nominating him for the Nobel Peace Prize. But there are perils in sane-washing a White House degenerating into a mad house.

PIGO

There is now a rush among legislators to deal with an online gambling phenomenon that has become an epidemic. Most of them simply want to ban online gambling, the most indolent policy option we could take. We are still rooting out remnants of POGO operations we banned last year.

In the rush to embrace something popular, our legislators forget that we have already evolved a distinct policy model for effectively regulating online gaming activities. This policy model, launched by the PAGCOR in 2020, is called the Philippine Inland Gaming Operations (PIGO). This model deserves a careful look by those most concerned about the rampaging spread of online gambling.

After studying the most effective policies in other countries, PAGCOR arrived at the PIGO model aiming to bring structure, accountability and transparency to gaming operations as betting activities move increasingly online. They hope to replace syndicates with proper corporations, offering a safer option for those who might otherwise gamble on unregulated sites.

The grey market platforms resemble underground gambling operations in many ways. There are no means for age verification, no spending controls and no player protection. As such, these sites are not fully trusted by the players themselves. In the underground gambling networks, abusive gambling behavior is left unchecked, disputes are settled informally (if not violently) and proceeds vanish into opaque networks that bring no benefit to the community. PAGCOR bets the players might be ready to accept more regulated gaming platforms.

In the PIGO platforms, player onboarding is verified through e-wallet partners such as GCash or Maya. This allows a means to confirm players’ identity, perform age checks and install anti-money laundering safeguards.

PIGOs integrate transaction caps, responsible gaming reminders and cooling-off features designed to deter addiction. More important, PIGO operations are required to have audit trails and dispute resolution systems that empower players with a legal recourse.

We all know the dangers inherent in informal and unregulated gambling networks. Players are vulnerable to abuse and criminal infiltration.

PIGO operations, by contrast, are required to closely coordinate with PAGCOR on compliance, cybersecurity and player safety. Since their inception, PIGO operations have remained surprisingly free from major controversies or even suspicions of systemic fraud.

Government, of course, is interested in revenues to be gained from any economic activity. Being thoroughly regulated, a portion of PIGO revenues is reliably channeled to the state.

The solution probably lies in corporatizing gaming.