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While many Filipinos welcomed the announcement of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. in his third State of the Nation Address (Sona) to totally ban the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogos) in the country, many expressed their concern that the “supposed” rebranding of Pogo will not have its operation entirely prohibited.
Some netizens on X (formerly Twitter) took note of the resurfacing reports about Pogos being renamed as Internet Gaming Licensee (IGL), saying that the order to ban is just a facade so the operations can continue.
“Ba’t pa inapprove ung banned ng Pogo eh nagrebrand nmn pala… If criminal ako at nagpalit ako ng name will my crimes previously suddenly disappear?” said X user.
(Why would the ban on Pogo be approved if they were rebranded? If I was a criminal and I changed my name, would my previous crimes suddenly disappear?)
“The deception never ends. And standing ovation for what? Continued sautéing in our own oil?” added another X user.
An X user also said that “Wala na raw Pogo. Eh ano yung INTERNET GAMING LICENSE. Kapag may IGL pa rin alam na!” (They said there’s no more Pogo, but what about the INTERNET GAMING LICENSE. If there’s still IGL, you already know it!) posting a screenshot of an article from Inside Asian Gaming in October 2023 that quoted Tengco saying that “there will be 55 to 65 licenses issued and there will no longer be service provider licenses, it will just be an IGL license.
