SENATOR Alan Peter Cayetano on Thursday urged the Senate to carefully review its stance on online gambling, stressing the government’s trillion-peso investment in education and warning that the normalization of gambling and addiction undermines Filipino youth.

“I don’t take it against the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to raise funds, regulate gambling operators, and oversee all kinds of gambling and gaming—that’s their job. But to regulate the illegal side, this is where the balance of government comes in,” he said at the August 14, 2025 joint public hearing on online gambling.

“If PAGCOR and the Department of Finance are mostly looking at the revenue side, where is the rest of the government?” he added.

Cayetano, chair of the Senate Banks, Financial Institutions, and Currencies Committee, cited Taguig City’s strict anti-gambling ordinance as a model.

“Taguig was blessed in the late 1990s because we passed an ordinance banning all forms of gambling. When Mayor Lani Cayetano took office in 2010, we had no casino. We fought to keep it that way. Personally, I made sure that in the local government, gambling required local approval. Even cockfighting and bingo were denied licenses,” he said.

He added that the city’s ban aims to instill values of hard work and financial stewardship among the youth.

“This is part of teaching our young people to work hard, have the right values, and manage every peso God gives them wisely,” Cayetano said.

The senator noted the irony that while traditional gambling—even small-scale games during wakes—is heavily regulated, online gambling operates with little oversight.

“We already convinced people to stop gambling during wakes, like sakla, terembe, and monte. The DSWD and local government now assist families with burial expenses,” he said.

He pointed out that even minor street gambling like cara y cruz is raided by police, yet illegal online gambling remains rampant.

“The irony is that kids see cara y cruz being busted, but illegal e-sabong and other gaming go unchecked,” he said.

“The other irony is that casinos, cockpits, and lotto outlets have rules on how far they must be from churches and schools. But a student can just go to the restroom and gamble on their phone,” he added.