Former president Rodrigo Duterte bypassed Congress when he issued in 2017 Executive Order (EO) 13, which brought Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO), or “online gambling into life,” a minority lawmaker said Wednesday. 

Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro said Duterte encroached on the power of Congress to legislate by issuing EO 13, which regulates and licenses gambling and online gaming facilities in the country—a term she claimed never mentioned in the legislation that was passed by Congress creating the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR).

“When the president issued Executive Order No. 13, it is the humble submission of this representation, he legislated, he amended, he repealed the law—an act which violates the fundamental principle of separation of power,” Luistro said at Wednesday’s joint hearing of the House committee on public order and safety and games amusement into the proliferation of criminal activities and unlawful acts linked to POGOs.

She lamented, “The Executive should not encroach upon the power to legislate that belongs exclusively to the Congress.”

Duterte’s EO 13 stating that nothing “shall prohibit the duly licensed online gambling operator from allowing the participation of persons physically located outside Philippine territory,” was widely believed to have opened the doors for POGOs.

PAGCOR chairperson Al Tengco told the panel that the “real basis” of the agency regulating POGOs was the EO 13. 

“I suppose unless it is questioned, unless it is brought to court, or questioned by whoever, it will remain to be the law that regulates the entire gaming industry. I believe also that PAGCOR is here to regulate,” he said. 

During the pandemic, Tengco stated the birth of e-gaming “really prospered and very clear from the data that we have now, the trajectory of e-gaming is just too high.”

Luistro questioned the legality of EO 13, which she stressed provides “for the very first time for the term online gaming.”

“When the law does not provide, we should not provide. When the law does not include, we should not include. if the substantive law creating PAGCOR does not provide for online gaming, then no executive issuances should provide for online gaming,” she lamented.

Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, who is being implicated in illegal POGOs, however, countered that the subject EO was not unconstitutional. 

“Executive issuances, legislative enactments are all presumed to be constitutional unless proven otherwise. So, the status of Executive Order No. 13, unless challenged in court is presumed constitutional. Executive orders being the nature of implementing existing legislation, your honor,” Roque told the panel. 

The lawyer also denied being thoroughly familiar with EO 13 as well as the underpinnings behind its issuance.

“In fact, my only knowledge of Executive Order No. 13 was in the last hearing when former [PAGCOR] chair [Andrea] Domingo said that former president Duterte regulated online gambling through Executive Order No. 13… Im so sorry your honor it’s not within the field of my expertise,” he said.

Luistro countered, “I do not understand, Mr. chair, why this should circumvent the law that was passed by Congress creating the PAGCOR and providing the authorities to regulate all gaming and gambling activities. 

The lawmaker emphasized that EO 13 is one of the very reasons why the principle of separation of powers is very important.

“The principle of separation of powers and its concepts of autonomy and independence stemmed from the notion that the powers of the government must be divided to avoid concentration of these powers in any one branch. The division it is hoped would avoid any single branch form lording its power over the other branches,” she said. 

PAGCOR was created in 1977 through Presidential Decree 1869, issued by the late strongman Ferdinand E. Marcos. 

The PAGCOR’s charter was amended by RA 9487 in 2007 and has no mention of offshore gaming.

On last week’s hearing on POGOs, Chief Presidential Legal Counsel Juan Ponce Enrile and his daughter CEZA administrator and chief executive officer Katrina Ponce Enrile both find the EO a “mistake.”