7 accused linked to raided Bamban POGOs

Seven alleged cohorts of dismissed mayor Alice Guo in the illegal operation of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) hubs in Bamban, Tarlac where hundreds of workers were allegedly forced to run online scams under threat have surrendered to the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI.

NBI Director Jaime Santiago, in a press briefing, said five of the accused turned themselves in to the NBI Central Luzon regional office, which is headed by director Ricardo Apolinar, while the two others surrendered on Sunday afternoon to the head of the NBI Task Force Alice Guo.

Santiago identified the seven as Juan Miguel Alpas, Roderick Paul Bernardo Puajante, Rachelle Joan Malonzo Carren, Jamielyn Santos Cruz, Rita Sapnu Uyturralde, Thelma Barrogo Requiro, and Rowena Gonzales Evangelista.

The seven turned themselves in following the issuance by Pasig City RTC Branch 167 Presiding Judge Annielyn Medes-Cabiles of a warrant of arrest against Guo and several others in connection with the non-bailable qualified trafficking in persons case filed by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission and the PNP Criminal Investigation and Detection Group regarding the operation of POGO hubs in Bamban.

“Sila ang mga lumalabas na mga responsible doon sa Hongsheng (bilang) incorporators at sa Zun Yuan. Lahat ng ito ay masasabi nating mga bogus corporations ni Alice Guo (It appears that they incorporators of Hongsheng and Zun Yuan. We can say that these are bogus corporations of Alice Guo),” Santiago said.

Authorities raided Hongsheng Gaming Technology and Zun Yuan Technology on complaints of human trafficking and money laundering activities. Hongsheng closed last year and was replaced by Zun Yuan.

Santiago said most of the co-accused told NBI probers they had nothing to do with the operation of the POGO hubs and were just used by the owners

“Ang claim nila eh nagamit lang sila. Pero sabi ko nga sa inyo, justification nila ‘yan, mailalabas ‘yan during the trial of the case (They all claim that they were just used. That is their justification, but we will know the truth during the trial of the case),” Santiago said, adding: “Some of them are also claiming they did not even personally know Alice Guo.”

Santiago said Cruz, a reporter of state-run PTV-4, Alpas and Puajante allegedly served as president, treasurer and secretary of Zun Yuan Technology, respectively.

On the other hand, Requiro supposedly served as president and chief executive officer of Hongsheng Gaming, while Uyturralde was the treasurer of the same firm.

Santiago said Cruz, as a member of the media, “promoted Bamban tourism at doon nýa nakilala si Mayor Guo (that’s how she met Mayor Guo).”

Cruz denied that Zun Yuan was involved in human trafficking or online scams, adding she would not have invested in the company if it was engaged in illegal activities.

“Online gaming ang investments na inalok sa akin nung pumasok na ako. Ito po ay legal at pumunta po ako sa Pagcor (Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation), na-meet ko po ang mga opisyal ng offshore gaming and licensing department nila at naka-attend po ako ng mga patawag ni Pagcor chairman Tengco (The investment offered to me was for online gaming and it is legal. I went to Pagcor and met with officials of their offshore gaming and licensing department, and I was also able to attend meetings with Pagcor chairman Tengco),” Cruz said in the same briefing when she was allowed to talk to the media.

“So, there is no way na sabihin na kami ay bogus. Wala rin pong trafficking dito. Alegasyon lang po yan and they still have to prove it in court (It is not true that we are bogus. We are also not involved in trafficking. All these are allegations and they still have to prove it in court),” she also said.

Cruz said she met Guo during the Bamban festival last year which she covered as part of her show at PTV-4.

“Kilala ko po sýa since I was in the media for the past 21 years. Television host ako ng Buhay Pinoy TV sa PTV-4 kaya nung nagkaroon ng Bamban festival, kaya ako naipakilala kay mayor (I have been in the media for the past 21 years. I am a television of the Buhay Pinoy TV which airs at PTV-4. During the Bamba festival, I introduced myself to the mayor),” she said.

Cruz said Guo is not involved with Zun Yuan, adding it was another person who invited her to invest.

“Hindi po kasama si Mayor Alice Guo sa kumpanyang ito. Iba pong tao ang nag alok sa akin (Mayor Alice Guo is not involved with the company, it was another person who asked me to invest),” she said, but declined to identify the person, saying such details are better discussed in court.

Guo’s other co-accused in the trafficking case remain at large. These are Huang, Zhang Ruijin, Baoying Lin, Yu Zheng Can, former Technology Livelihood Resources Center director Dennis Lacson Cunanan, Merlie Joy Manalo Castro, and Maybelline Requiro Millo.

“Karamihan Chinese ang at large pa pero hindi kami tumitigil sa paghahanap sa kanila (Most of those who remained at large are Chinese, but we continue to hunt them down),” Santiago said.

“As far as our investigation is concerned ‘yung mga sumuko ang mga opisyal nitong mga corporations na ito na aming inimbestigahan (As far as we are concerned, those who turned themselves in are the officials of these corporations that we are investigating),” he added.

WRIT OF AMPARO

Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque has filed a writ of amparo petition before the Supreme Court (SC) to stop the House of Representatives from enforcing the warrant of arrest it has issued after he was cited in contempt for a second time for his refusal to comply with a subpoena duces tecum issued by the quad committee.

A writ of amparo, a Spanish word that means protection, is a special writ to protect or enforce a constitutional right other than physical liberty.

Roque is being investigated by the lower house for his suspected links with the operation of the Lucky South 99 POGO hub that was raided in Porac, Pampanga.

Roque, represented by his daughter Bianca Hacintha, asked the magistrates to issue the writ and a temporary order to prohibit the House from enforcing the arrest order.

The petition also asked the High Court to issue a writ of certiorari and a writ of prohibition to prevent the quad committee from requiring Roque to produce any additional document or to attend any future hearings.

“Atty. Roque has the right against self-incrimination and yet the respondent QuadCom is requiring him to submit certain documents and to answer a great number of questions, with the purpose of linking him with Internet Gaming Licenses or POGOs. In other words, the respondent QuadCom is requiring the aggrieved party to submit evidence of his alleged involvement with IGLs or POGOs, which can be used to incriminate him for illegal activities that those IGLs or POGOs are being accused of,” part of the 66-page petition reads.

The petition also states that the House inquiry allegedly violated Roque’s constitutional right to due process, which requires the protection of the rights of persons appearing in, or affected by, such an inquiry or investigation.

 “In violation of this right, the Respondent Quad-Committee is usurping the investigation powers of the Executive Branch and the judicial functions of the Judiciary by fishing for evidence that they could use to condemn him for his alleged involvement with IGL and POGOs which he has repeatedly disproved, or some other infraction that they hope to stumble upon during their fishing expedition,” the petition added.

Roque has refused to submit documents subpoenaed by the House panel, which includes his Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth and his wife’s income tax return, which he earlier promised to provide.

Roque said that submitting the documents is akin to providing or submitting evidence against himself.

“The Respondent Quad-Committee is looking for some asset that he or his wife might have mis-declared in their respective SALNs, or some item that either of them might have neglected to declare in their income tax returns, or some report that they might have neglected to submit with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), even though those documents pre-date the establishment of IGLs or POGOs,” the petition said.

Likewise, the petition said the joint panel’s order is tantamount to a violation of Roque’s right to privacy “by exposing, for the whole world to see, his financial history, family affairs, income tax returns, and other documents and information that are deeply personal to him and his family.”

“The Petitioner respectfully submits that the actions of the respondents were committed with grave abuse of discretion, in exercising their legislative powers in an abusive manner, and in usurping the investigative powers reserved for the executive branch and the adjudicative powers reserved for the judicial branch of government,” it said.

“Legislative inquiry must respect the individual rights of the persons invited to or affected by the legislative inquiry or investigation. Hence, the power of legislative inquiry must be carefully balanced with the private rights of those affected,” it added.

The House now considers Roque a fugitive after he went into hiding to evade the service of the arrest order. The PNP said it had formed tracker teams to locate the former Cabinet official and now has leads on where he is hiding.

At the House, Antipolo City Rep. Romeo Acop warned Roque’s wife Mylah that she will be ordered arrested by the House if she fails to comply with the quad committee’s show-cause order for repeatedly ignoring its summons.

Acop, a retired police general who is also a lawyer, said Mylah has to face the joint panel, reminding her of her right to refuse to answer by invoking her right against self-incrimination.

“Kung di siya pupunta, isa ‘yan sa pinakamabigat sa rules namin na pwede siyang ma-cite in contempt (If she’ll not attend, that’s the problem because under our rules, she can be cited in contempt) for not respecting our invitation,” Acop, who is a vice chair of the quad comm, told TeleRadyo. “Kung hindi mo i-honor ‘yung subpoena (If you don’t honor the subpoena), we will request that an arrest order be issued against her.”

Acop said Mrs. Roque will be cited in contempt once the quad committee schedules another hearing “and she does not show up despite the invitation.”

Roque’s wife didn’t attend the quad comm’s hearing last September 19, informing the joint committee through a letter that she was undergoing medical treatment in Singapore.

Roque’s wife was summoned to the hearing on the proliferation of POGOs during the Duterte administration after lawmakers questioned her husband about his business and financial dealings, seeking to establish his connection to POGOs, particularly to Lucky South 99.

It was Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro who questioned Roque about Biancham Holdings and Trading Inc., a family-owned company founded in 2014.

It was found that initially, Roque and his wife each held 49.9 percent of the company’s shares until the majority was transferred to lawyer Percival Ortega, who now holds 99.99 percent.

Biancham’s audited financial report however showed the company’s cash balance surged from a measly P125,300 in 2014 to P67.7 million in 2018, during the peak of POGOs under the Duterte administration.

Roque has said the increase was due to funds he infused from the proceeds of selling a prime piece of land in Parañaque City, originally owned by his aunt and inherited by him and other relatives.

The committee has ordered Roque to submit his SALNs the years 2016 to 2022, copies of the documents related to the transfer of Biancham’s shareholdings, and his 2018 income tax return, which was filed in 2019.

The former Duterte spokesman’s name was linked to POGOs after a house in Tuba, Benguet, reportedly owned by him, was raided, resulting in the arrest of two Chinese nationals linked to an illegal POGO operation in Bamban, Tarlac.

A practicing lawyer, Roque has admitted having an “interest” in the corporation that owns the Benguet property.

Tengco has also revealed that Roque lobbied for Lucky South 99 in July 2023 when he joined Cassandra Li Ong, an alleged representative of the POGO hub, during a visit to his office to discuss the firm’s unpaid arrears amounting to $500,000.

NO BREAK

Manila Rep. Bienvenido Abante, chair of the House committee on human rights which is a co-chair of the quad comm, said the four committees will continue to hold hearings during the month-long legislative break, which will begin tomorrow.

He also said that despite turning down previous invitations, lawmakers will continue to invite former president Rodrigo Duterte to shed light of the issues hounding his bloody war on drugs.

Lawmakers are trying to establish the links between illegal drugs, money-laundering, and the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) during the previous Duterte administration.

Abante, who earlier revealed that POGO money was used to reward cops who killed drug suspects under Duterte’s war on drugs, said the quad comm will continue hearings even during the break “because we’ve seen the involvement of one syndicate and some (police) generals.”

“Unless otherwise mabuwag natin at makita natin sa loob ng Philippine National Police (PNP) ang mga heneral na involve sa drugs, hindi mawawala ang drug problem sa Pilipinas (Unless we dismantle the generals in the PNP who are involved in drugs, the drug problem in the Philippines will not be eradicated),” he said in an interview.

The quad-comm is coming off its sixth hearing wherein it listened to the explosive testimony of former Iloilo City Mayor Jed Patrick Mabilog.

Abante identified the late Camilo Cascolan as the PNP general who allegedly saved Mabilog’s life by telling him not to come back to the Philippines amid his being included in Duterte’s narco-list.

Cascolan’s advice came at the same time as then-PNP chief and now Sen. Ronald dela Rosa’s prodding of Mabilog to return to the Philippines so that the latter could supposedly help the beleaguered mayor.

YANGS

Senate deputy minority leader Rosa Hontiveros yesterday said the arrest of Tony Yang, a brother of former President Duterte’s economic adviser Michael Yang, will further expose the Yang family’s “deep links” to illegal POGOs and Chinese criminal syndicates.

In a statement, Hontiveros said the links of the Yang brothers – Tony aka Yang Jian Xing, Hong Jiang Yang, and Michael aka Yang Hongming – in several illegal activities have been established as shown in several documents from various sources.

“Bisto na sila, huwag na silang deny (They have been unmasked and they cannot deny that). The arrest of Tony Yang, who is wanted in China for financial scamming, will pave the way for establishing his connections to POGOs – just like his brothers Michael and Hong Jiang… It is much clearer now that their family business is a massive crime syndicate that has operated in the country for far too long and has victimized far too many,” Hontiveros said.

She said that Hong Jiang Yang, through his joint account with Hongsheng incorporator Yu Zheng Can, had direct transactions with Baofu Land Development Inc. which hosted the Hongsheng and Zun Yuan POGOs which are linked to Guo, whose Chinese name is Guo Hua Ping.

Hongsheng was the first operator of the illegal POGO hub in Bamban until it was raided on February 2023. It was then replaced by Zun Yuan which used the same location of Hongsheng’s POGO facility in Bamban, Tarlac.

Hontiveros said Hong Jiang Yang is an incorporator of Fullwin Group of Companies, where Michael Yang is president, while Gerald Cruz is its corporate secretary.

She said Cruz is also the corporate secretary of Pharmally Biological where Michael Yang has shares.

She said Michael Yang is also an incorporator of Brickhartz Technology Inc., a POGO service provider linked to kidnapping and human trafficking cases.

Hontiveros said the alleged involvement of Tony Yang and Hong Jiang Yang in POGOs cannot be a coincidence, as she pointed out the same corporate tactics deployed to conceal their identities.

“Malabong nagkataon lang na pare-pareho ang ginagawa nitong magkakapatid na Yang (It is impossible that it was just a mere coincidence that the Yang brothers have the same activities). There are indications that corporate layering and the crimes they committed through these entities may be part of their modus operandi,” she said.

Senate president pro tempore Jinggoy Estrada said that he has received information that Sual, Pangasinan Mayor Liseldo “Dong” Calugay “was the one operating the POGO activities” in Bamban, Tarlac.

He said this has to be explained by Calugay when the Senate Committee on Women conducts its final hearing on the illegal activities linked to the POGO industry.

“Well, there are reports that I received that Mayor Calugay was the one operating the POGO activities in Bamban,” Estrada told reporters in an interview. He did not elaborate.

He said the attendance of Calugay’s present “live-in partner” in today’s committee hearing will be vital to establish the mayor’s reported links to the Bamban POGO hub. Estrada did not name Calugay’s present partner.

During the last hearing, Calugay admitted to owning the Happy Penguin Resort in Sual, Pangasinan which he sold to a certain Veronica Soriano on July 15 this year. The lot has an area of 4,000 hectares which Calugay reportedly sold only for P1.2 million.

Estrada, also during the last hearing, showed several receipts of construction materials under the name of Calugay and Alice Guo which were used in the construction of Happy Penguin Resort in 2022.

Estrada earlier said they suspect that the Happy Penguin Resort was one of the places where Guo and her siblings sought refuge before they escaped from the country last July.

He, however, said that still this needs to be established.

Estrada said he expects Huo to continue to tell lies before the committee when she attends today’s hearing. – With Wendell Vigilia, Raymond Africa and Victor Reyes