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Deporting foreign nat’l POGO workers: Sen. Raffy Tulfo seeks a complete list of foreign nationals working in the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and asks the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) a concrete program to ensure that all of them will be deported by the end of this year. “I want to account and monitor them because if we don't account their whereabouts, what will happen to these foreign nationals who worked in POGOs after their licenses (or visas) have been canceled after the deadline has arrived,” Tulfo said in Filipino during Wednesday's hearing, September 4, 2024, of the Committee on Games and Amusement. “If we don't audit or monitor them, there will be a big possibility that they will get into illegal activities such as drug dealing, kidnapping, robberies among others. That's why we want the accounting of these POGO workers. I wanted by the end of this year, they are all fully accounted for and have been deported,” he added. According to PAGCOR, as of August this year, there are 28,462 Filipinos and 28,421 foreign nationals who are working in POGOs. On July 22, 2024, President Ferdinand “Bongbong” Marcos Jr. said the POGO operations shall be banned in the country until the end of this year. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)