Remember the time offshore gaming firms from China, called POGOs - Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators, were hailed as the savior of the local real-estate sector? Congress giddily helped roll out the red carpet by passing a generous tax break that even the pioneering local industries can only dream of. The compelling argument that the country of origin of the POGOs, China, outlaws the POGOs for being a menace to the broader society was hushed-hushed during deliberations on the generous tax break. What is poison to some may be deliverance to others, the unanimous vote in the two chambers for the tax break said in so many words.
The drowned-out opposition to the tax break never gave Sen. Ana Theresia "Risa" Hontiveros the chance to go into details on how the POGOs, outlawed in their mother country, would just unleash into our society all sorts of hucksters, criminals and con men - just a visa factory for foreign crime enterprises, the dregs of China being let loose into our midst. But an overleveraged real-estate sector used its political clout to muzzle the anti-POGO arguments and sink these discussions. The promise of POGO leases and rents to be injected into an economy that overbuilt and was looking glumly at empty condominium towers was the 30 pieces of silver that sweetened the deal for the POGO tax break.
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