MANILA, Philippines — Lawmakers should pass a law regulating Philippine offshore gaming operators if they have issues with the supervision of the gambling entities, President Rodrigo Duterte said.

Various illegal acts have been tied to the operation of POGOs, the latest being the alleged links between some of their transactions to various suspicious activities including violations of e-commerce act, fraud, and illegal drugs.

POGOs, which employ and target Chinese nationals, have also been associated with the trafficking and prostitution of Chinese women, tax evasion, kidnapping of Chinese nationals, and the so-called "pastillas" bribery scheme, which led to the entry of illegal Chinese workers.

Duterte, however, defended the operations of POGOs and even suggested that Congress pass a law regulating them. He noted that the government earns huge revenues from the gambling firms, money that he said can be used to "help the nation."

"Now, there is a compelling reason, if there is no other reason and there is no legal impediment, I want it legalized. If they can pass a law about POGO, fine, go ahead. Supervise it by law, not us," the president told reporters in Malacañang late Monday.

"We are not justifying it. We are just saying that it is allowed because we need the funds," he added.

Duterte said Chinese nationals cannot be barred from entering the Philippines because Chinese authorities allow Filipinos to work in their country.

"If they (Chinese nationals) are here under the entry expedited by the Chinese Embassy but they are here to work as bonafide workers of POGO, there’s nothing I can do about it. Unless you want to, I said, jeopardize the Filipinos in (China)," he said.

Money laundering 'not true'

The president also expressed doubts on reports that POGOs are being used for money laundering.

"With regard to the speculation of senators that they (POGOs) are being used for (money) laundering, well... we have a listing of their deposits. There is a report of money laundering. But in the banks themselves, there is none," Duterte said.

"Money laundering... what will you use to pay? You are engaged in the business. You deposit money, you withdraw money. It's running. There are winners. There are losers. So they need to pay. And that’s it. If they want the payment to emanate from the Philippines, there’s nothing that we can do," he added.

"But if you say...the money laundering was not seen by regulators...we were given a copy. It's not true."

With regard to the abduction of Chinese POGO workers, Duterte said there were also kidnapping incidents among Koreans.

Duterte assured the public that all revenues generated from POGOs would be accounted for.

"There is no corruption there. We did not speak to anybody but PAGCOR (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp.)...If you have a recording, a telephone conversation, if you saw me talking to (PAGCOR chief) Andrea (Domingo) about money, then you are sorely mistaken. It's just the opposition. Because you are thieves," he said.