RSS Feed

Tech Support

Philippine gaming regulator Pagcor warned of a "false information campaign" in a "memo purportedly ordering local government agencies (LGUs) to immediately suspend operations of overseas online gaming businesses." Such a memo was "fake," the Philippine gaming company said in a written release on Saturday.

Jesse Marise Fernandez, head of Pagcore's overseas gaming licensing division, said the "estimated memo" to the LGU in Metro Manila dated July 26 was a "forged version of the previous memorandum" issued by the agency on July 23, a day after the president's State of the Union address.

On July 22, Philippine leader President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. said that the Philippine Overseas Game Operator (POGO), now known as Internet Game License (IGL), will have to close its operations in the Philippines by the end of the year.

This 'fake note' advised some LGUs in Metro Manila to stop POGO operations "within the first week of August".

Pagcore's statement on Saturday quoted Fernandez as saying: "We have not issued a memorandum ordering LGU to immediately close POGO operations in its jurisdiction because the President's order is very clear: We must end POGO operations by the end of the year, and we will follow suit."

"This is clear disinformation to cause confusion and confusion," she added. "There is clearly an ulterior motive behind it, and we will ask the N.R.A. to investigate and lift the cover-up to find out their motives."

Fernandez said Pagcor has advised LGU that it can continue operating "as yet to be finalized" until it decides on the process of terminating the license IGL's operations.

A spokesman for the Chinese embassy in the Philippine capital Manila said on Thursday that the ban on overseas online game operators operating in the Philippines was a "welcome step forward."