An upbeat Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian hit the headlines last week after securing much-needed signatures to push a committee report urging Malacañang to shut down Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (Pogos) within three months.
After languishing in the committee level for failing to secure enough support from panel members, the report was finally sent for plenary consideration— a necessary step before it could be officially approved and transmitted to the Palace.
But the elation proved to be shortlived.
The ink had barely dried when two senators reportedly withdrew their signatures. The reason: alleged differences with Gatchalian regarding the Pogo phaseout period. The two senators apparently want at least two-to-three years of gradual phaseout, instead of the abrupt closure within three months being pushed by the senator from Valenzuela.
The two senators insisted that three months is too short to shut down an entire industry that employs thousands of Filipino and foreign workers. This does not include the adverse impact on tax collections, the property sector and countless Pogo-dependent ancillary businesses.
With his bid to get Senate approval for his committee report in limbo, it seems ‘it’s back to square one’ for Gatchalian’s committee. In short, the planned Pogo shutdown has gone from ‘ban’ to ‘bust’.
—Daxim L. Lucas
Filipino wins first global PR award
The first awardee of the Global Public Relations Practitioner of the Year is from the Philippines—Ron Jabal, chair and CEO of Pageone Group.
This was announced during the inaugural World Public Relations and Communications Awards held on Sept. 21, during the World Public Relations Forum at the ITC Grand Chola Hotel in Chennai, India.
Jabal was declared the winner by the Global Alliance for Public Relations and Communication Management, the confederation of the world’s major PR and communication management associations and institutions, representing over 360,000 practitioners and academics around the world.
Jabal, who just graduated from the prestigious Swiss School of Management with a doctor of business administration degree, was also recently declared best PR practitioner in Southeast Asia during the fourth Asean PR Excellence Awards held in Vietnam.
He is also bound for Rome this October to receive his several global Stevie awards, which include PR Executive of the Year, Thought Leader of the Year (business services) and Executive of the Year in the advertising and marketing management category.