Philippine authorities’ detention of more than 1,300 Chinese nationals, allegedly illegally involved with an online betting operation, has mushroomed into a presidential arrest order for one of Macau’s most venerable junket tycoons. Jack Lam, whose Jimei Group runs Fontana Hot Spring Leisure Parks on the grounds of former U.S. Clark Air Force Base about an hour northwest of Manila, stands accused of economic sabotage and bribery. This tale, with trappings of noire crime stories, underlines the good, the bad and the ugly of Philippine gaming under President Rodrigo Duterte. Elected on the promise of restoring law and order – many potential visitors shy away from the Philippines due to perceived safety threats – by killing thousands of criminals (sources say the body count since Duterte’s election is approaching 6,000), Duterte’s drive against corruption and elite privilege often includes shooting from the hip, giving short shrift to established rules and procedures, behavior that’s worrisome to business and investors as well as targets.

On November 24 and spilling into the next day, Philippine Bureau of Immigration officials arrested 1,316 Chinese nationals working at the Fontana resort. The detainees, according to the Manila Bulletin newspaper, have been charged with visa violations rather than gambling offenses, even though government officials say Fontana’s online gaming operation was illegal. Online gaming has been a target of Duterte, though his focus has been on operations targeting the local market. Fontana would likely aim at overseas players (those Chinese workers are a reliable hint). Moreover, Fontana insists it has authorization to conduct the shuttered operation. Online gaming and proxy betting are common at Philippine casinos, accounting for significant portions of VIP play. An analyst’s report released early this year openly discussed Fontana’s proxy gaming operations.

Department of Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II says a Lam associate tried to bribe him to release the detainees and that Lam himself asked Aguirre to become his ninong, or protector, against adverse government actions with a budget of 100 million pesos ($2 million) a month. Aguirre also says that Lam’s team also tried to bribe gaming regulator Pagcor’s Chairperson Andrea Domingo with 1% of Fontana’s casino revenue. Aguirre concedes bribery charges against Lam will be difficult to prove, since he speaks neither Tagalog nor English, the Philippines’ main languages, and everything was done though interpreters or other third parties.

Nevertheless, President Duterte issued an arrest warrant for Lam on December 3, read on the radio by Philippine National Police Director General Ronald dela Rosa. Immigration officials acknowledge that Lam left the country several days earlier as they distribute his photo to ports of entry, in case he’s foolhardy enough to return. By December 6, authorities shut down Lam’s casinos at Fortuna and Fort Ilocandia Hotel and Casino in Luzon’s far north.

Domingo told local media that she will order Fontana to pay 10% of its gaming revenue to the government, same as other Clark casinos, rather than the 1% she says Lam now pays, thanks to “a vague provision in his contract with Pagcor made many, many years ago.” And that’s one of the key issues this case underlines.

Fontana has a contract with Pagcor, and, if Pagcor wants changes, it should negotiate them, not order them unilaterally. Fontana’s discounted tax rate – another source indicates it pays 10% on mass revenue plus 10% of net VIP win after commissions, which could bring payments well below 5% of revenue – arose from the need to attract investment after the U.S. left Clark and its surroundings, 244 square miles (632 square kilometers) in all. Creating a special economic zone with tax incentives was a key tool, and Fontana has invested more than $100 million to develop its resort.

A key complaint from foreign investors about the Philippines remains that the government doesn’t keep its word. The previous Pagcor management team, appointed by then-President Benigno Aquino III in 2010 and credited with bringing more professionalism to the regulator that also operates 11 casinos, assiduously respected earlier Pagcor executives’ decisions and, when the Bureau of Internal Revenue decided to tax Pagcor licensees on gaming revenue, Pagcor cut its fees to keep licensees’ net outlays unchanged. (The Supreme Court earlier this year overturned the tax, ruling on a lawsuit brought by Bloomberry Resorts Chairman Enrique Razon Jr, the billionaire ports magnate who opened Solaire in Manila’s Entertainment City in 2014.)

On the other hand, Duterte has no problem overturning what’s come before. In the early days of the new administration, Pagcor moved against PhilWeb, which ran electronic gaming parlors, following the president’s lead as he attacked both online gaming and PhilWeb’s majority shareholder Roberto Ongpin, a former government minister.

Duterte has also ordered Pagcor to sell its casinos and focus on regulation, a move long urged by experts but avoided by previous leaders, who wanted legislators to endorse the move that would reduce patronage opportunities and jobs in general. Even when making a positive move, Duterte appears to act by impulse and fiat.

The reported reaction to the arrests from Jack Lam indicates that, like the political culture, Philippine business culture still has a good deal of evolving to do. That was true of Macau after casino liberalization, where even competitive bidding was a foreign concept 15 years ago. But lasting change will succeed best by instituting better policies and procedures through the administrative and legislative process, not by tough talk, grandstanding gestures and prosecution by press.