The Department of National Defense (DND) on Thursday said its chief, Secretary Gilberto Teodoro Jr.’s remarks about a call to shut down Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation (POGO) hubs were taken out of context.

DND spokesperson Arsenio Andolong said Teodoro was referring to the country as a whole and not pertaining to military bases.

Teodoro was quoted in a DND statement as saying: “The concern is that we should stop these syndicated criminal activities operating out of our base, which weaken our financial standing, our country ratings, [and] corrupt our society.”

DAILY TRIBUNE and other news outlets initially reported that Teodoro called for the closure of POGOs next to military bases, citing a national security concerns.

Andolong said the “base” that Teodoro was referring to, “is our financial, economic base—basically our country.”

“He was not referring to a military camp or in some reports, EDCA (Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement) sites, which is very far from what he meant,” he said

“He did not say anything as alleged in some news reports that POGO facilities near military camps should be shut down. He was purely referring to the effect on our country’s ratings, economy, and the effects it will have as a whole. That’s his context,” he added.

Also, Andolong said Teodoro did not mean POGOs now a national security threat, as reported by some news agencies. He said the DND’s press statement only referred POGOs as a “national security concern.”

He explained a threat can be classified after process of vetting and investigation and fact-finding.

“Concern is very different from a threat. A concern merely means that the matter deserves more scrutiny and investigation. When you classify an entity, an actor or a phenomenon as a threat, that means that that particular entity, actor, and phenomenon underwent a process of vetting, investigation and fact finding before it is classified as a threat. He did not mean a threat because [the Pogo issue] should be studied more. I think he was very clear there,” he said.

“We have to put on record that there are legitimate POGOs and there are POGOs posing as criminal syndicates posing as POGOs. So that’s different things,” he added.