BAGUIO CITY August 12 – The city council requested Mayor Mauricio G. Domogan to issue the appropriate closure order to stop the operation of the electronic games along Marcos highway for the absence of the required business permit from the city government considering that the area where the same exists is situated within the city.
The council reached the decision after over an hour and a half of debating on the legality of issuing the closure order to the establishment and the electronic games operator even if it was able to secure the required business permit from the nearby Tuba municipal government.
The council left it to the discretion of the local chief executive on how to implement the closure order considering that he can initiate the appropriate dialogue with all concerned parties, including Tuba municipal officials, in order to facilitate the stoppage of the electronic games that is clearly within the territorial jurisdiction of the city. Earlier, the city council passed a resolution requesting the State-owned Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) to cancel the electronic games permit it issued to a local operate to operate the e-games establishment along Marcos highway considering that the area is within the territorial jurisdiction of the local government.
However, the PAGCOR never acted on the request up to the present which prompted the council to again request the city mayor to close the establishment to ensure that the e-games station will not exist within the jurisdiction of the city.
It was learned that Rafael Tabora, the identified operator of the electronic games along Marcos highway, secured the endorsement of the municipal council and the business permit from the Tuba municipal government.
Barangay officials of Sto. Tomas Proper which is supposedly acquires jurisdiction of the place where the electronic games is situated expressed their vehement opposition to the operation of the e-games in the area because it is their barangay that has authority over the place and not the Tuba municipal government.
The council wants the city government to assert its authority and jurisdiction over the area considering that it is way out of the area given by the local government of Tuba that was swapped with a property within the Sto. Tomas School area, thus, the need for the city government to invoke its right over the area and prevent the proliferation of electronic games that tend to affect the image of the city.
Under the new PAGCOR Charter, amusement game operators must first secure the consent of host local governments through a resolution or certification of no objection prior to the establishment of casinos, amusement games and electronic games in their desired areas of operation around the country.
The council was supposed to invite concerned department heads as resource persons in order to expound on the city’s authority and jurisdiction over the area where the electronic games was established but most councillors objected to such strategy and instead passed the resolution requesting the city mayor to be the one to implement the closure order of the establishment anchoring its stand on the fact that the economic area is still within the territorial jurisdiction of the city.
