Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr on Monday ordered an immediate ban on widespread and mostly Chinese-run online gaming operations, accusing them of venturing into crimes, including financial scams, human trafficking, torture, kidnappings and murder.
His move to ban the Chinese-run online gambling outfits — estimated to number more than 400 across the nation and employing tens of thousands of Chinese and Southeast Asian nationals — came amid a crackdown backed by Beijing.
That has led to the shutdown of several sprawling complexes where authorities suspect thousands of Chinese, Vietnamese and other nationals mostly from Southeast Asia have been illegally recruited and forced to work in dismal conditions.
Photo: AFP
Marcos announced the decision during his state of the nation address, when he also said that the Philippines would press efforts to strengthen its defensive capability by forging security alliances with friendly countries to counter threats to its territorial interests in the South China Sea, adding that his country would only settle disputes through diplomacy.
In related news, Philippine senators ordered the arrest of a town mayor in Tarlac province who has failed to appear at public hearings where allegations against her were being investigated, including her alleged links to a large online gambling complex near her townhall and suspicions that she fraudulently hid her Chinese nationality to be able to run for a public office reserved only for Filipinos.
The mayor, Alice Guo, has denied any wrongdoing, but has been suspended from her post with her financial assets ordered frozen.
Philippine senators say the massive online gambling industry has flourished largely due to corruption in regulatory agencies and payoffs to local officials.
“Disguising as legitimate entities, their operations have ventured into illicit areas furthest from gaming such as financial scamming, money laundering, prostitution, human trafficking, kidnapping, brutal torture, even murder,” Marcos said in his address. “The grave abuse and disrespect to our system of laws must stop.”
He ordered the gaming agency to wind down the operations of the gambling outfits by the end of the year, drawing loud applause in the House of Representatives.
He asked labor officials to look for alternative jobs for Filipino workers who would be displaced because of the shutdown.
Marcos also outlined moves to address a range of issues, including soaring costs of food and electricity, poverty and low wages.
His administration’s “bloodless war” on dangerous drugs never aimed at “extermination,” Marcos said in an obvious criticism of his predecessor’s brutal anti-drugs crackdown that left thousands of mostly innocent suspects killed.
The International Criminal Court has been investigating the widespread drug killings under former Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte as a possible crime against humanity. Duterte has denied authorizing extrajudicial killings.
On Manila’s increasingly hostile disputes with Beijing, Marcos said the Philippines would not back down, but would only use peaceful means to resolve any dispute.
“The West Philippine Sea is not only a figment of our imagination. It belongs to us,” Marcos said, using the Philippine name for the stretch of the South China Sea that Manila claims.
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