Balisacan’s Big Bet: Taxing the Poor’s Last Peso for ‘Public Good’

By Louis ‘Barok‘ C. Biraogo+ July 13, 2025

BEHOLD the Philippines—where the government’s answer to the metastasizing plague of online gambling isn’t a cure but a shiny new cash register. Secretary Arsenio Balisacan, with the serene confidence of a man who’s never bet his last peso on a digital slot machine, proposes taxing e-wallets like GCash to milk revenue from the nation’s spiraling gambling addiction. Because nothing screams “compassionate governance” like profiting off the desperation of the poor.

Let’s shred this masterpiece of moral bankruptcy with the glee it deserves.

Balisacan’s Brilliant Brainwave: A Digital Shakedown Disguised as Policy

Balisacan’s grand plan is to slap a tax on e-wallet transactions fueling online gambling, treating it like cigarettes or sugary drinks—a “sin tax” to fund public services while tut-tutting vice. The logic is flimsier than a peso bill in a typhoon.

Taxing e-wallets assumes the government can track a digital hydra that’s already outpacing regulators with AI and offshore servers. Balisacan himself admits it’s a “challenge” to regulate this beast [Philstar.com, July 10, 2025], yet he’s ready to count the pesos before they’re even collected. This isn’t policy—it’s a protection racket for the digital age.

The numbers are as shaky as a compulsive gambler’s hands. Online gambling raked in P154.51 billion in 2024, a grotesque leap from P58.16 billion in 2023 [PAGCOR, March 18, 2025]. A proposed 10% tax might net Php1.896 billion annually [Iskomunidad], but where will it go? Into the black hole of bureaucratic budgets, or to actual addiction treatment programs? History suggests the former—Philippine pork barrels have a notorious appetite.

Balisacan’s cigarette tax analogy ignores a brutal truth: smoking kills slowly; gambling can ruin a family in one reckless night.

The Human Toll: Profiting from Tears and Broken Dreams

Let’s talk about the real victims, because this isn’t just numbers—it’s lives.

Picture Ricardo, drowning in P300,000 of gambling debt, his stability shattered by the siren song of online slots [BusinessWorld Online, January 14, 2025].
Or the jeepney driver, scraping by on meager fares, who bets his daily wages during breaks, chasing the “baka swertehin” mirage.
Worst of all, imagine a Bukidnon teenager, driven to suicide after squandering his parents’ savings on digital bets [ResearchGate, 2024].

These aren’t hypotheticals; they’re the human wreckage of an industry that feasts on desperation.

Online gambling’s accessibility—bets placed in under five minutes, ads flaunting million-peso wins—targets the poor like a heat-seeking missile [Philstar.com, June 24, 2025]. A 2023 survey found 64% of Filipinos gamble online, with 30% betting multiple times a week [The Lancet Psychiatry, 2022]. The poor, with no financial cushion, are hit hardest. A single loss can mean no food, no school fees, no hope.

Taxing this misery doesn’t curb it; it makes the government a silent partner in the exploitation.

The “For and Against” Circus: Hypocrisy in Stereo

The Pro-Tax Hustle: “Let’s Fund Schools with Addiction!”

The pro-tax crowd, led by Balisacan, cloaks their greed in pragmatism. “Oh, let’s fund public services with addiction revenue—what could go wrong?” they coo. Sure, Php1.896 billion sounds nice [Iskomunidad], but it’s a pittance against the social devastation.

The idea that this will bankroll addiction treatment or infrastructure is laughable when corruption notoriously siphons off public funds. And regulation? The government couldn’t even keep POGOs from becoming crime dens [Philstar.com, July 10, 2025]. Now they think they can tame a digital gambling empire? It’s like trying to leash a tsunami.

The Anti-Tax Sob Story: “Won’t Someone Think of the Gambling Industry?”

On the other side, the anti-tax, pro-ban advocates—think Senator Zubiri with his “Anti-Online Gambling Act” [AGB, July 6, 2025]—wring their hands about morality while trembling at the thought of lost revenue.

The industry employs IT workers, customer service reps, and fuels telecom growth [AGB, January 26, 2024]. So, the government dithers, paralyzed by the prospect of bruising the gambling lobby’s delicate ego. Meanwhile, families like Ricardo’s drown in debt, and teenagers in Bukidnon see no way out but the ultimate escape.

The Real Winners: Politicians, Platforms, and Predators

Who’s cashing in on this misery? Not the poor, that’s for damn sure.

Politicians stand to gain campaign funds from a grateful gambling industry, happy to dodge a ban for a manageable tax.
Tech platforms like GCash rake in fees while playing innocent—never mind their role in enabling addiction [Philstar.com, June 24, 2025].
PAGCOR, the gambling regulator, brags about P47 billion in Q1 2025 revenue [AGB, May 1, 2025], as if that’s a triumph rather than a monument to human suffering.

The only ones not at the table are the vulnerable Filipinos betting their last peso, lured by ads promising riches.

A Scorching Call to Arms: Stop This Digital Slaughterhouse

This is no time for half-measures or cynical cash grabs. Taxing gambling while pretending to care about the poor is like selling arsonists fire insurance and calling it “fire prevention.”

The Philippines must act with moral ferocity:

Ban predatory gambling ads that target the desperate [Philstar.com, June 24, 2025].
Sever e-wallet links to gambling sites [Philstar.com, July 1, 2025].
Enforce betting limits to shield the vulnerable.
Invest in real poverty alleviation—microfinance, job training, education—not the cruel hoax of jackpots.
Fund addiction treatment with ironclad oversight, not promises that vanish into corrupt coffers.

The government must choose: be a predator profiting off misery, or a protector of its people.

Ricardo, the jeepney driver, the Bukidnon teenager—they deserve better than a state that sees their despair as a revenue stream. Act now, or the Philippines risks becoming a nation where the poor are not just neglected, but systematically fleeced.

Shame on those who let this digital casino run wild.

Do better, or history will brand you as accomplices in a national tragedy.