ENDING the operation of all Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country will be a “big challenge” to law enforcement agencies as displaced foreign operators and workers are expected to continue to operate illegally in the country, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) chairman Alejandro Tengco yesterday told senators.
During Wednesday’s hearing of the Senate Committee on Games and Amusement, Tengco said operators and workers who would be rendered jobless because of President Marcos Jr.’s directive will not return to their countries of origin for fear that they may be prosecuted for running and working in gambling and scamming hubs.
Under this scenario, he said POGO stakeholders will likely set up clandestine offshore gambling facilities across the country and operate illegally, similar to what happened when POGOs were rebranded as Internet Gaming Licensees (IGLs) and required to re-apply their licenses.
“Walang problema sa amin as far as cancelling their licenses is concerned. Pero malaking hamon ito sa Bureau of Immigration and law enforcement agencies kasi yung iba ay patuloy na mag-o-operate illegally kaya kailangan magtulungan ang lahat (We have no problems as far as cancelling their licenses is concerned. But this is a big challenge to the Bureau of Immigration and our law enforcement agencies because other POGO hubs will continue to illegally operate here that’s why we need everybody’s assistance to stop them),” Tencgo said.
Tengco said there are 46 licensed POGO/IGL hubs still operating, but the licenses issued to five of these firms have been cancelled by Pagcor due to numerous violations.
Tengco said the illegal POGO hub recently raided in Lapu-lapu City in Cebu is an example of how illegal offshore gaming firms will likely operate in the future — by renting establishments, like resorts, which have complete facilities where they can do their secret operations.
“Kagaya nung nahuli sa Lapu-lapu City, lumalabas sila ay galing sa Bamban. Inupahan nila ang buong resort at hindi na sila magtatayo pa ng hub (Like the one raided in Lapu-lapu City, it turned out that the workers there came from the raided POGO hub in Bamban. They did not put up another facility but just rented the entire resort),” he said.
“Talagang malaking hamon ito sa ating law enforcement agencies dahil may personal akong paniniwala na yung ibang foreigners ay hindi na babalik sa kanilang bansa (This is really a big challenge to our law enforcement agencies because, in my personal belief, these foreigners will not go back to their country),” he added.
WORKING VISAS
Tengco said Pagcor had met with the Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Labor and Employment to discuss the President’s directive to shut down all POGOs by the end of the year.
He said that as agreed by the three agencies, working visas issued by the BI to foreign POGO workers will be cancelled “15 days before December 31,” which will make them illegal workers by January 1 if they continue to stay in the country.
He said there are more than 30,000 foreign workers given working visas, but they are now down to around 28,000 as some of them have given up their visas and returned to their respective countries.
He said Malacañang is expected to issue an executive order which will state the guidelines on the closure of POGOs, noting that there have been recommendations from various sectors to also cancel the licenses of call centers located at export processing zones as some of them are used as covers for POGO illegal activities.
CASSANDRA ONG
Katherine Cassandra Li Ong, an alleged incorporator and authorized representative of a raided POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga, yesterday reneged on her commitment to sign a bank secrecy waiver to allow lawmakers to look into her transactions.
“Sa umpisa ay pumayag siya na mag-execute ng bank waiver, ngunit ito ay kanyang binawi dahil sa alang-alang nya na ito ay magsisilbing ebidensya laban sa kanya sa kasong money laundering na inihain ng PAOCC (Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission) at AMLC (Anti-Money Laundering Council) (She initially agreed to execute a bank waiver but she withdrew because she is apprehensive that this could be used as an evidence against her in the money laundering cases filed by PAOCC and AMLC),” Sta. Rosa Rep. Dan Fernandez said during resumption of the House quad committee’s hearing on the proliferation of POGOs under the administration of former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Ong, who is detained at the House after she was earlier cited in contempt for snubbing the quad comm’s summons, has already been charged and underwent inquest proceedings last August 23, 2024, for violations under Section 1(c) of Presidential Decree No. 1829 and Section 45(h) of the Commonwealth Act No. 613, also known as the “Philippine Immigration Act of 1940.
She has already admitted working for raided Porac POGO Lucky South 99 and Whirlwind Corp., the company that leased the land to Lucky South, in which she has a 58 percent stake.
Ong, who attended the joint panel’s fourth hearing, again denied being an incorporator of Lucky South 99, saying Whirlwind Corp. only leased land in Porac, Pampanga to the POGO hub.
Fernandez recalled that Ong has refused to accept the lawmaker’s offer for her to spill the beans in an executive session where she would have been allowed to speak freely without legal threats.
“Nitong nakaraang hearing ay nakita natin na nagda-dalawang isip si Cassandra Li Ong na ibahagi ang totoong ginagampanan niya bilang authorized representative ng Lucky South 99. Hindi rin siya handa upang pangalanan ang mga boss o financier ng mga illegal POGO operations (In the last hearing, we saw that Cassandra Li Ong was hesitant to clarify her true role as an authorized representative of Lucky South 99. She also was not ready to name the boss or financier of illegal Pogo operations),” Fernandez said.
Fernandez, one of the quad comm’s chairmen, said there can be no doubt in anyone’s mind “that powerful people are behind this large-scale, multi-billion-peso criminal enterprise involving drug trafficking, POGOS, and extra-judicial killings.”
“The fact that several key personalities of POGO corporations have managed to evade the long arm of the law speaks volumes of the power they wield and the resources at their disposal,” he added.
Fernandez said that the findings of the committee have firmly established that Chinese nationals obtained Filipino citizenship by fraudulent means, then proceeded to acquire vast landholdings through businesses disguised as Filipino-owned corporations.
“In the course of our inquiry, I believe that one thing will eventually be made clear: that drug money is the source of POGO money, and that POGO money is a source of criminal activities, including EJKs,” he stated.
‘BIG BOSS’
In the questioning of Surigao del Sur Rep. Johnny Pimentel, the quad comm looked into Ong’s relationship with the alleged “big boss” of the Porac POGO, a certain Chinese citizen in the name of Duanren Wu, who Ong said was her “godfather” and the best friend of her late mother who was also Chinese.
The 24-year-old Ong admitted working as a personal translator for Wu in 2019 and living under the same roof with him, along with some staff in Pampanga.
“Sana ay huwag po kayong magagalit, sana ay huwag niyong masamain (I hope you don’t get offended),” Pimentel said. “You’re living in one roof, you are a woman, Duanren Wu is a man. Ang tanong ko po: wala ba kayong relasyon? (My question is: don’t you have a relationship?”
Ong, who is now the girlfriend of Wesley Guo, the brother of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, denied having a relationship with Wu.
The panel plans to summon the former mayor, who was apprehended in Indonesia early morning yesterday, in the next hearings.
“Well, all I can say is you can run but you can’t hide,” quad comm lead chair Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers told reporters.
Pimentel expressed belief that Ong is withholding information regarding the operations of Lucky South even if the investigation has shown that she was “heavily involved” and is one of the “partners” of Lucky South 99, citing billions of transactions involving her, including the money used to obtain the lots and construct the POGO buildings in Porac.
On the questioning of Barbers, Ong also denied that the funds of her Chinese partners in Whirlwind came from drug money and money-laundering.
Ong said she inherited her money from her late mother who was a businesswoman.
Barbers asked Ong how well he knew Wu and eventually told her that the former policeman “had a lot of negative record in China.”
ROQUE’S WEALTH
On the motion of Batangas Rep. Gerville Luistro, the quad comm also denied the motion to quash filed by former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque who contested the joint panel’s order for him to submit financial papers and other documents following the revelations of his alleged link with POGOs.
Luistro said the quad comm was able to show an increase in Roque’s assets, including his family’s holding corporation and other subsidiaries when he was still a presidential spokesperson with “limited income.”
Among the subpoenaed documents are the dead of sale of a multinational subdivision lot, income tax returns (ITR) of Roque and his wife in Bianchum Corporation, and his Statements of Assets, Liabilities and Net Worth (SALN) from 2016 to 2022.
The four committees also required the trust agreement which Roque mentioned when he was asked about the transfer of shareholdings to lawyer Persival Ortega in 2020.
“Let us remember that one of the controversies that we are investigating right now is the POGO operation. Amid the overwhelming circumstantial evidence of his connection, Atty. Harry Roque’s connection, to Lucky South’s POGO operation,” Luistro said.
“He denies, he vehemently denies this connection to the same. In the last hearing he even articulated that his money did not come from POGO. I want to remind the committee that during those time Atty. Harry Roque was the presidential spokesperson, a government official whose income is very much limited, this notwithstanding, we were able to show to the public the sudden increase of his assets in some corporation and other subsidiaries,” he added.
Luistro maintained that the documents which are being required are relevant to the subject matter of the investigation and “if Harry Roque will not be able to prove the sources of his assets, then there is a possibility… (of) his connection to this POGO operation.” — With Wendell Vigilia
