MANILA - Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Tuesday reiterated her call for the the government to halt all Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) activities in the country amid rise in crimes involving the industry.

"Dapat nang mag-crackdown agad sa mga illegal na POGO operation, pero dapat na rin kaagad i-suspend 'yung lahat ng POGO operation," Hontiveros told radio DZMM, saying that the industry is costing the country more than it's benefiting.

She said that the Senate is likely to make a move against offshore gaming operations like in Cambodia, where online gambling was banned after the industry there had been used by foreign criminals to extort money.

• Cambodia to ban online gambling, cites threat to social order

According to Hontiveros, she and her colleagues are likely to file a resolution expressing the sense of the Senate that POGOs is producing more "negative than positive" effects in the country.

"'Yung orig[inal] nilang pangako ng investment, ay nagmumukhang pakatiting na pakatiting dahil ang dumadami at bumibigat ay yung sinasabi ng [Senate] Committee of Labor na P50 billion and counting na unpaid taxes," she said.

Hontiveros also said that Filipinos are also losing jobs to Chinese nationals, who are supposedly prioritized by employers in the industry.

The senator -- who's also chair of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality -- earlier called for the suspension of offshore gaming operations days after she revealed the alleged "pastillas" scheme at the Bureau of Immigration, where illegal Chinese workers come as tourists and pay P10,000 as grease money so they could enter even without the proper work visas.

• Philippine senator bares alleged bribery scheme for entry of Chinese workers in POGOs

Businessman and economic analyst Wilson Lee Flores meanwhile said that if there are positive effects from POGOs, they are boosting the real estate market and services sector in the Philippines.

"'Yung tinatawag na real estate boom 'tsaka 'yung paglago ng construction na lumalakas talaga. Maraming employment, maraming trabaho, 'tsaka 'yung services ba. 'Yung restaurant, laundry, mga food suppliers," Flores said. "'Yun ang kabutihan."

Flores said that due to POGOs, the growth of the real estate market in the Philippines is not declining.

However, the businessman said the negative effects of the industry weigh more than the positive results, recommending its cessation.

"'Yung mga ganito na gumagawa nito [POGO], sila ilegal na negosyante sa China. Nababahala ako sa ganiyan kasi parang pinapayaman natin ang mga ilegal na negosyante," he said.

"Dapat na [ito] i-phase out."

The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality is expected to hold another hearing next week on the illegal entry of POGO workers in the Philippines.