Senator Bam Aquino on Saturday welcomed the Bangko Sentral ng Pilipinas’ (BSP) order to electronic wallet providers to cut their connections to online gambling platforms, calling it a major step toward protecting Filipino families from the social harms of e-gambling.

“We are glad the BSP has ordered the delinking of e-wallets from e-gambling sites. We welcome this development and urge e-wallet providers to decouple from online gambling entirely,” Aquino said in a statement.

On Thursday, the BSP gave e-wallet giants 48 hours to remove their icons and links to online gambling platforms. In response, both GCash and Maya — two of the country’s largest e-wallet providers — committed to comply with the directive.

Aquino expressed optimism the central bank’s directive would be the turning point in the fight against the proliferation of e-gambling, which he described as a growing threat to society.

“If this happens, online gambling in our country will weaken. What we are really pushing for is a total ban,” he said. “I think PAGCOR and the President have big decisions to make.”