One of the biggest defenses of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) that I could think of is that they are job creators. Thousands of Filipinos are being paid well to make the industry thrive in the Philippines, and that’s a good thing. Senator Joel Villanueva took a swipe at that theory recently, pointing out an imbalance created by hiring predominantly foreign employees.

8 out of 10 POGO jobs go to foreigners, Villanueva claims. According to December 2019 figures gathered by the Philippine Amusement and Gambling Corporation (PAGCOR), 17.7% of employees in the POGO industry are local, while 82.3% are foreigners. And as these are the numbers for the legitimate POGOs, Villanueva feared its worse in the black market.

“If legitimate Pogo companies in this sector employ few Filipinos, we can only surmise as to how worse it is in illegal Pogos,” Villanueva said in a statement Monday. “The data we have now is just the tip of the iceberg. It’s a grim picture of our labor force.”

Even without baseless speculation, the number is a clear problem. “This trend exactly presents a clear problem from a labor policy perspective,” said Villanueva on February 10.