CEZA chief denies POGO presence in Cagayan EDCA site

The Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA) vehemently denied on Wednesday the presence of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs) in the Enhanced Defense Cooperation Agreement (EDCA) sites in the province, an area previously reported that had a sudden surge of Chinese nationals.

CEZA administrator and chief executive officer Katrina Ponce Enrile told the joint hearing of the House committee on public order and safety and games amusement that “there is only one” EDCA site within Cagayan Special Economic Zone and Freeport (CSEZFP), which operates internet gaming (iGaming) operations.

“The service provider inside CEZA has been in the zone before EDCA was signed and way before the determination of EDCA sites. Hence, it would be safe to assume that the military knows of the presence of gaming service providers, and despite this knowledge, they still chose an area inside CEZA to be one of their EDCA sites,” said Enrile, noting that the troops are confident that the area is “safe and secured.”

As early as 2003, Enriled disclosed that the CSEZFP was already running an iGaming—a concept copied by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR), which renamed it to POGO before it was rebranded as internet gaming licensees (IGL) in October last year

The joint committee, which has been investigating illegal activities linked to POGOs, summoned CEZA after the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) previously reported that 17 POGO hubs operating in Sta. Ana Cagayan, near the two EDCA sites, falls under CEZA’s jurisdiction.

EDCA is a Philippines-United States pact designed to bolster the security cooperation between the two nations by giving the latter access to Philippine military camps.

POGO has been at the center of an investigation after authorities discovered that the industry had been engaged in a slew of criminal activities, such as money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, and murder, among others, which resulted in President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordering its total ban in the country.

Enrile categorically denied that there are POGO operations in CEZA.

“The idea was stolen from us. The form was changed and turned into a nest of criminality, [which apparently] they couldn't control. Then, now we are being dragged into and blamed for what we didn't do. Please, don't be like that,” she stressed in the vernacular.

“It is our fervent hope that the ills and evils that the President rightly sought to end with his decisive actions to ban POGOs will not be to the detriment of CEZA,” she said.

Enrile continued, “Such menacing activities, mind you, happening outside our jurisdiction, were brought not only by the criminal designs of syndicates but also clearly by failure, if not a total breakdown of regulation.”

Meanwhile, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile, who was also present during the hearing, appealed to lawmakers to safeguard CEZA from those who have ill intent to cease its operations.

“CEZA was not only an economic project. It’s a part of the security of the country. I do not know why people want to destroy it,” he said.

Further, he stressed that CEZA was created to ward off the “spread of economic development risks in case of calamity or war.”

“That area is the anchor of the safety and national security of the country… That’s why, may I beg those who have in their mind to destroy CEZA, stop it,” the senior Enrile said.

According to Enrile, POGO was never aware of POGO when he crafted Republic Act 7922, which established CEZA.

"I agree with what [the President] said, ‘I will kick out POGO in this country… POGO is a money laundering operation," Enrile added.

The Enriles are also one in saying that Executive Order 13, issued in 2017 by former President Rodrigo Duterte to regulate and license gambling and online gaming facilities in the country, was a mistake.