Philippines is corrupt to the core as well, from courts to police to civilians. So the real reason why POGOs were thrown out of the country was that the didn't pay off the right people. Nothing gets done in Philippines without bribes.
I also had friends dealing with legal for multinationals, for things to work you needed to know the right people or pay the right people. Otherwise your licenses and approvals would mysteriously simply never be processed.
They did pay the right people. It's just that the "right people" lost the presidency in 2022.
I guess Asia is lucky that the gangs haven’t learned that you have to pay everyone in power, and everyone who could come to power. As soon as your gangs and mafias learn that, you’ll be as hosed as we are in the US. And your gangs and mafias will all of a sudden become “corporations”.