PhilWeb, the e-Gaming provider that ran hundreds of internet cafes across the Philippines before President Rodrigo Duterte took office, has appointed Gregorio Araneta as its new chairman.
Araneta replaces previous chairman and majority shareholder Roberto Ongpin, who resigned in August in an attempt to placate Duterte and save thousands of jobs.
According to PhilWeb, Araneta is an independent director of the company and sits on its nomination and remuneration committees. GGRAsia reports that he directly owns 100 shares in PhilWeb and holds an additional 13 million shares through Gregorio Araneta Inc. He is married to Irene R. Marcos-Araneta, daughter of the late deposed dictator Ferdinand Marcos and his wife Imelda.
After he was inaugurated in July, Duterte took immediate aim at digital gaming inside the country’s borders, suggesting they’re a trap for the poor and indolent. On order from the new president, the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. announced it would not renew PhilWeb’s license to operate in the country.
Duterte singled out Ongpin as “an oligarch that must be destroyed,” though the former chairman said he never met Duterte. Ongpin offered to resign and surrender his shares in the company to PAGCOR in hopes of saving the license and some 6,000 jobs, but it didn’t work.
Last month, PAGCOR Chairman and CEO Andrea Domingo rejected a PhilWeb proposal that would have utilized the company’s technology services for PAGCOR’s gaming ventures.
“We regret to inform you that the board has denied the proposal of PhilWeb to introduce a text-based betting system called PAGCOR Text Bonanza at this time, considering that the current policy of the government is to strictly regulate and ensure non-proliferation of gambling avenues which are accessible to lower income brackets of society,” Domingo said.
