Jilihh and APECO: What the Aurora Zone Licenses

APECO is the Aurora Pacific Economic Zone and Freeport Authority, and it exists because Republic Act 10083 created it in 2010 to run a special economic zone centred on Casiguran, in Aurora province on Luzon’s eastern coast. Like the Cagayan Freeport before it, the zone’s charter gave it authority to license online gaming operators as part of the businesses it can register, alongside trade, tourism and industrial activity. This page covers what that charter licenses and how APECO’s role compares with the other two authorities a Philippine-facing gambling brand might name.

What Is APECO? A Zone With Its Own Gaming Charter

Fact	Detail
Created by	Republic Act 10083, 2010
Location	Casiguran, Aurora province
Licensing scope	Freeport businesses, including online gaming operators
Separate from	CEZA (Cagayan) and PAGCOR (national)

APECO’s charter is its own document, not a branch of PAGCOR’s or CEZA’s authority. A licence naming APECO covers the zone’s own registered entity, the same way a CEZA or Curaçao licence names its own.

Aurora Pacific Economic Zone: From Freeport to Gaming Licensor

The zone’s original purpose was industrial and tourism development for Aurora province, and Republic Act 10083 folded gaming licensing into that same charter rather than creating a separate gambling regulator. That structure mirrors CEZA’s: a freeport authority whose licensing powers happen to cover online gaming among several other business categories, run by the province’s own zone authority rather than by PAGCOR.

1. Republic Act 10083 establishes APECO and its freeport zone in 2010.
2. The charter grants licensing authority over registered zone businesses.
3. Online gaming operators are one category of business APECO can license under that charter.

APECO vs CEZA vs PAGCOR: Who Licenses What

Authority	Legal basis	What it licenses
APECO	RA 10083 (2010)	Freeport businesses in Aurora, including online gaming
CEZA	RA 7922 (1995)	Freeport businesses in Cagayan, including interactive gaming, via First Cagayan
PAGCOR	PD 1869 as amended by RA 9487	The Philippines’ national gambling regulator and licensor

Read what CEZA licenses for the older of the two zone charters, since the two run on near-identical structures with different provinces and different founding laws.

What an APECO Licence Does Not Tell You About a Specific Brand

An APECO licence, like a CEZA or a PAGCOR one, names a specific registered company. It says nothing about a brand that names a different regulator entirely.

Jilihh’s footer names	APECO’s role here
A Curaçao licence for its operating company	Not mentioned in Jilihh’s footer at all

That distinction matters more once you’re checking a specific brand rather than reading about the zones in the abstract — the fuller Jilihh legit check walks through what its own footer states and how to verify it. The BSP’s own instruction to e-wallets is a separate, more recent regulatory action worth reading alongside this one; see what the GCash gambling ban actually changed.