Senate prez: Pogo probe must unmask Chinese bosses

The investigations by Congress and various law enforcement agencies must unmask the Chinese bosses who bankrolled the Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) and pocketed the proceeds from their alleged criminal activities, Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero said on Saturday.

“Isn’t it pitiful that in all the investigations we had, those who were charged are only Filipinos?” Escudero said in an interview with dwIZ radio’s “Usapang Senado” program.

“Where are the Chinese citizens behind (Pogos)? (Where are) those who are the real owners of Pogos? Why is it that until now, I haven’t seen even one of them being pressured and browbeaten?” he asked.

According to the Senate leader, the authorities should identify and file similar cases against the Chinese nationals who allegedly used Pogos in committing transnational crimes, specifically money laundering and human trafficking.

That responsibility, he pointed out, falls squarely on the shoulders of the Philippine National Police, the National Bureau of Investigation and the Bureau of Immigration.

“Those who should be held liable must be charged, not just the small players involved in Pogos,” Escudero said.

Level of cooperation

Of the dozens of individuals who have been indicted so far for their alleged involvement in the illegal internet gaming business, dismissed Bamban, Tarlac, Mayor Alice Guo and members of her family are the most prominent.

Justice Assistant Secretary Jose Dominic Clavano IV said Guo may qualify as state witness if she would confess and expose the “masterminds” of the illegal Pogos.

“Right now, based on our investigation, she still stands as the most guilty, thereby disqualifying her to become a state witness,” Clavano said at a press briefing.

If “bigger personalities” were identified as the masterminds, “she will no longer be the most guilty,” he said.

Such a possibility would be based on the ongoing Department of Justice (DOJ) investigation.

“It will also depend on the willingness of … Guo to cooperate with the law enforcement and the authorities,” Clavano said.

On Friday, the fugitive former mayor was flown back to Manila a day after she was arrested in Indonesia where she ran off in July to evade the Senate investigation and other cases brought against her.

The Guo family is suspected of using their businesses and bank accounts as conduits to bring in dirty money from abroad to finance the sprawling Pogo complex in Bamban, which authorities raided and shut down in March.

Last week, the NBI, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission jointly filed 87 counts of money laundering against the sacked mayor and 35 others in the DOJ.

Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Risa Hontiveros, who have been at the forefront of the two separate Senate inquiries on Pogos, had earlier presented biometric evidence showing that Guo is a Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping. Her “sister,” Shiela, was also identified as Chinese whose name is Ziang Mier.

Help from ex-Chinese cop

Hontiveros had also said that Guo might be a Chinese spy trained to infiltrate and influence the country’s political system and that Beijing could have deployed other agents like her.

Escudero said it was possible that Guo had “connections” and knew someone in Indonesia who helped her sneak out of the Philippines.

A Reuters report quoting Indonesia’s law minister Supratman Andi Agtas on Wednesday said Guo was helped by a former Chinese police officer during her escape from the Philippines.

Gatchalian shared Escudero’s disappointment over the snail-paced actions of law enforcement agencies, particularly the AMLC, in pursuing cases against the Chinese Pogo owners.

Dismayed with AMLC

He noted that the money laundering charges against the Guos only involved the funds they used to buy the 7.9-hectare land for Baofu Land Development Inc. which leased the property that the sacked mayor partly owned, to Zun Yuan Technology Pogo complex.

According to the senator, the AMLC had given them the names of the owners and operators of Pogos, many of them Chinese nationals, during one of their executive sessions.

However, he said that the senators could not publicly identify them since the AMLC was still conducting financial investigations.

“Actually, we’re dismayed with the AMLC because we are having a hard time disclosing certain matters that would help the public understand the gravity of this crime,” Gatchalian said.

“We have information and we know their operations, but we cannot share this to the public until the AMLC files cases,” he added.

Gatchalian said a certain Jiang Jie, said to be Guo’s business partner, was among the Chinese nationals who allegedly helped her escape to Indonesia.

“This person is very important. His name has been popping up even from the start,” he said.

“It’s important for us to know this person. And I believe that he is a big criminal personality in Southeast Asia. We need to alert our neighbors in Southeast Asia about this person,” Escudero said.

The prominent Chinese nationals whose names have been mentioned as owners or had links to Guo and Zun Yuan and the Porac, Pampanga, Pogo outfit Lucky South 99, included her father Guo Jian Zhong, and her suspected mother, Wen Yi Lin.

The others are Huang Zhiyang, a Chinese fugitive, and Zhang Ruijin and Baoying Li, who were both allegedly involved in the biggest money laundering case in Singapore.

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Cassandra Li Ong, 24, whose Chinese father is a naturalized Filipino citizen, is a stakeholder in Whirlwind Corp., the service provider for Lucky South. She had identified her godfather, Duanren Wu, a former Chinese police officer, as Whirlwind’s “big boss.”

Many of the over 30 people in the money laundering case had Chinese names, but the AMLC did not say how many of them were foreigners.

‘Best protection’

Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos Jr. on Saturday said he told Guo that the PNP would give her “the best protection” after the dismissed mayor said she wanted his help because of alleged death threats against her.

Guo told him there were “big personalities” involved.

“I told Alice, ‘Whoever these people are who want to kill you, we will assure your security, we will give it to you. Just tell the Senate, just tell the court everything you know,’” he said, adding that the court should know about this.

Guo, who opted not to post bail for two cases of graft in the Tarlac Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 109 in Capas, is detained at the PNP Custodial Center at Camp Crame in Quezon City.

The RTC judge had allowed her to testify in the resumption of the Senate’s inquiry into illegal activities involving Pogos in the country.

Ong’s jail preference

A lawyer for Ong, Ferdinand Topacio, said that she would rather go to jail than be interrogated some more by lawmakers, after she was hospitalized for low blood pressure and blood sugar during Wednesday’s hearing by the quad committee of the House of Representatives.

“She said, ‘If you want to put me in jail, fine, even if that means the women’s correctional. I’ll accept it,’” Topacio told reporters on Saturday.

He quoted her saying further: “Just stop humiliating me in front of millions of people. I don’t want to testify anymore.”

Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers warned Ong that she would be held at the Women’s Correctional Center in Mandaluyong City rather than at the House detention facilities if she continued to refuse being questioned.

“If you want to put her in jail, fine. If you want to file charges, then file charges. But let’s cut this drama because it’s pathetic,” Topacio said.

Ong is the girlfriend of Guo’s brother Wesley, who is believed to have fled to Hong Kong. She and Shiela were arrested two weeks ago in Indonesia and sent back to the Philippines about two weeks ago.

Ong remains in hospital and “was suffering multiple mental breakdowns [because] of this trauma,” according to her other legal counsel, Raph Andrada. —WITH A REPORT FROM INQUIRER RESEARCH INQ