THE Senate Committee on Games and Amusement will open deliberations this week on measures seeking to strictly regulate or outrightly ban online gambling amid its ill effects on Filipino families.
Sen. Erwin Tulfo, committee chairman, has scheduled the first hearing on Thursday, August 14.
“I made a commitment to prioritize these bills because the problems are getting worse. It has become a crisis already. We really need to act to solve this problem,” Tulfo said in Filipino.
Tulfo, who is pushing for a total ban on online gambling, said he wants the Department of Finance (DOF) and the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) to discuss the pros and cons if the online gaming industry is shut down.
“We have to weigh these [pros and cons]. But the problem is that people get addicted to gambling. How exactly do we go about it? Is the income derived from it more important than the future of our people — the youth, the parents who are addicted to online gambling?” he said.
The Tulfo committee will discuss four bills and three resolutions, and a privilege speech on the ill effects of online gambling.
Several senators have called for the conduct of an investigation on how to address the growing addiction of Filipinos to online gambling.
Among those who filed bills calling for a total ban on e-gambling are Senators Loren Legarda, Raffy Tulfo, Juan Miguel Zubiri, and Joel Villanueva.
Those who filed bills to strictly regulate online gambling are Senators Risa Hontiveros and Sherwin Gatchalian.
Senators Pia Cayetano, Robin Padilla, Ronald dela Rosa, Francis Pangilinan, Paolo Benigno Aquino, and Joseph Victor Ejercito have also expressed their respective positions on the continued operation of digital gambling firms.
