IN part one of this series, we highlighted the rise of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) and how they could serve as fronts for money laundering, and perhaps, something far more sinister.
Amid the muddling of the issues, the pettiness of the questions of some members of Congress, and the difficulty of tying up together the information and evidence that have been unearthed so far, one can discern an intricate and elaborate system of corruption that runs deep down the lowest rung of the bureaucracy, the stink of which could rise to the highest corridors of power.
And POGOs are just one piece of the puzzle. How does this link to the Pharmally scandal, for instance? Are there intertwined personalities and interests?
To be sure, the Philippines is not new or immune to corruption involving foreign business. The ZTE-NBN scandal during the time of President Gloria Macapagal-Arroyo is still fresh in our memories.
Interestingly, these last three episodes all involved China or Chinese businesses and businessmen.
But decades ago, Gloria’s father, the late Diosdado Macapagal, also found his administration caught in an imbroglio involving American businessman Harry Stonehill.
On March 2, 1962, Macapagal’s Justice Secretary, Jose W. Diokno, led a raid on Stonehill’s offices and business facilities and arrested Stonehill. Diokno’s investigation uncovered a system of corruption that appeared to have reached deep inside the halls of Malacanan and Congress.
Among the documents seized in the raid was a letter from Stonehill to Macapagal and a “blue book” that contained the names of government officials to whom Stonehill had given money, including then Sen. and Liberal Party President Ferdinand E. Marcos and former President Carlos P. Garcia. He even had wire-tapping instruments.
So powerful was Stonehill’s $50 million business empire and far-ranging his political influence at the time that he once bragged: “I am the government.”
Stonehill was charged with “economic sabotage, tax evasion, political interference, misdeclaration of imports, influence peddling and corruption of public officials.”
The Senate launched inquiries on plunder, bribery and corruption.
But before the cases and the Senate probe could proceed, Macapagal had Stonehill deported to the United States, where he eventually faced tax evasion charges.
Macapagal then fired Diokno and another Cabinet member, saying that while they had no complicity in the Stonehill affair, the Cabinet, like Caesar’s wife, must be above suspicion.
But this angered Macapagal’s detractors, including Diokno who said: “How can the government now prosecute the corrupted when it has allowed the corrupter to go?”
We still don’t know how high the chain of power in the POGuO saga goes.
For now, we can take consolation from the fact that Alice Guo or Guo Hua Ping and the rest of the “POGO gang” have not been deported and the government still has the opportunity to uncover all and bring the perpetrators to justice. Although, in truth, most of them remain at large.
Emerging popular from the Stonehill scandal, Diokno joined the Nacionalista Party and topped the 1963 Senatorial elections
Marcos later resigned from the Liberal Party to become the Nacionalista Party standard-bearer in the 1965 presidential elections.
And the rest is history.
