The country may lose less than one percent of its gross domestic product (GDP) as a result of President Ferdinand Marcos Jr.'s order to ban Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) on Monday.

"POGO contributed to less than one half of one percent of our GDP as of 2022, that's what we are likely to lose. On the other hand, we are losing the presence of POGO because of tourism, China has made it clear that cross border tourism is likely to be regulated by them for countries that cater to POGOs," National Economic and Development Authority (NEDA) Secretary Arsenio Balisacan said in an ambush interview after the post - State of the Nation Address discussions on Tuesday.

"If you take that into account, losses in GDP are less than one percent, so the benefits of banning POGOs outweigh the costs," he added.

Balisacan added that "more important than just the economic numbers, are social costs and reputational costs to the country of hosting this kind of business is not good at all".

"I would like to see legitimate businesses, businesses that give good reputation to our country as an investment and tourist destination, not ones that carry criminality," he said.

During his address, Marcos directed the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) to halt operations of POGO in the country by the end of 2024.

"Effective today, all POGOs are banned. I hereby instruct Pagcor to wind down and cease the operations of POGOs by the end of the year," he said.

The Department of Finance (DOF) said recently POGOs updated cost- benefit analysis shows that "the net cost of POGO operation is around P99.52 billion annually" as the estimated as the total economic benefits amounted to P166.49 billion and the annual estimated total economic cost is amounting to P265.74 billion.

It also stated that, "at its peak in 2019, the POGOs industry employed 97,283 foreign nationals or around 82.3 percent of its total workforce."

"However, in June 22, this share dropped to 51.1 percent of the total workforce. This appeared to further decline to 33.4 percent in 2023, although the estimated number of Filipinos employed increased," it added.

Balisacan said Filipino "workers in POGO have some skills already so they can be absorbed in other sectors."

"If we need to upskill and reskill them, that's the job of agencies like (Department of Labor and Employment) DOLE and Commission on Higher Education) CHED," he said.

"Our economy has been able to generate jobs but the president has emphasized that the next step to elevate the type of this job, high-quality jobs, we need to ramp up our infrastructure drive to make our country desirable as an investment destination," he added. Robina Asido/DMS