SENATE deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros yesterday said the Committee on Women is wrapping up its inquiry into the criminal activities related to the illegal operation of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country and shift its focus on the complaints of former members of the Kingdom of Jesus Christ (KOJC) against pastor Apollo Quiboloy.

Hontiveros, who is the committee chairperson, told dzBB radio in an interview that the panel will hold its last hearing on the POGO issue on Tuesday next week.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said once the hearings are terminated, the panel will come up with proposed measures, among them proposals to improve the late registration system and banning offshore gaming operations in the country.

Gatchalian noted how dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo, whose Chinese name is Guo Hua Ping, was able to acquire a fake Filipino birth certificate.

“Very clear na sa amin kung anong mga batas ang ire-rekomendang ayusin, anong mga policy ang aayusin. For example, yung pag-ayos sa late registration ng birth certificate system. Isa rin lumabas sa hearing ay ang pag-ban ng POGO, maglalabas kami ng batas na i-ban na ang POGO. Ito yung legislative recommendations at kapag tapos na ang among investigation dito sa POGO sa Tarlac, bubuksan naman yung POGO sa Porac (It is very clear what measures will recommend. For example, we would like to fix the system on late registration of birth. Another is we will craft a bill to ban POGOs. These are some of the recommended legislations. As we are about to end the investigations on the Bamban, Tarlac POGO hub, we will open the investigations on the illegal POGO in Porac),” Gatchalian said in a separate interview with radio dzBB.

He said there is a connection with the Bamban and Porac POGOs.

“Dito sa Porac and Bamban, malinaw na merong kinalaman ang mga personalidad diyan tulad ni Alice Guo (The Porac and Bamban POGO hubs are connected. It is clear that the people behind the operations, like Alice Guo, have connections),” he also said.

Gatchalian said the bill on the total ban on POGOs will be strict and will ensure that even if they rebrand, they will still not be able to operate.

“Kahit baguhin nila ang branding, POGO pa rin yan. Ibang pangalan pero parehong negosyo, yan ang isasama naming. Kahit may license ‘yan, banned na siya, hindi na puwede mag-operate sa bansa (Even if they change its name, they are still POGOs – different name, but the same business. We will include that in our recommendation – that even if they are granted license by the government, they will not be allowed to operate in the country),” he said.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, in a press conference at the Senate, said the revelation of retired general Raul Villanueva, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation senior vice president for security, that a former PNP chief was on the take from illegal POGOs was premature since the information has not been validated yet.

As a former military intelligence officer, Dela Rosa said Villanueva should have first validated the alleged involvement of the police official before disclosing the information during the Senate hearing last Tuesday.

“Sana vinalidate nang husto para hindi madamay ang lahat. Inamin naman niya na hindi pa confirmed, hindi validated kaya mali po na ilabas agad. It will be a very sweeping accusation sa lahat ng former PNP chiefs. Dapat hindi niya talaga ginawa iyon

(He [Villanueva] should have first validated the intelligence information and did not make a sweeping statement. He admitted that it was noy yet confirmed and yet he mentioned it already. It was a very sweeping accusation to all former PNP chiefs. He should not have done that),” said Dela Rosa, who was a former PNP chief under the Duterte administration.

He said it does not matter on whose presidency a former PNP chief served since even those who have retired before POGOs existed have been affected.

Besides, he said that charges based on intelligence information will not stand in court.

“Without evidentiary value, you cannot pin down anybody based on an intelligence report. Magkaka-duda ang tao na part ito ng isang grand political plan (The people will now have doubts that this is part of a grand political plan),” he added without elaborating.

Gatchalian, in the radio interview, said he found Villanueva’s statement as vague as it did not specifically identify the former PNP chief.

“Hindi very clear ang statement na binigay kahapon ni Gen. Villanueva… wala kasi pangalan at detail. Siya mismo nagsabi na raw information, parang hilaw pa, vine-verify pa. Kung walang verification, mahirap mag-komento (Villanueva’s statement last Tuesday was not very clear since there was no specific name or details mentioned. He said that it was raw information that needs verification that’s why it’s hard to comment on an unverified report),” he said.

Former senator Panfilo Lacson, also a former PNP chief, said the mention of a former PNP chief linked to illegal POGOs “is not only alarming but reprehensible” as well.

He said that after a verification he made with fellow graduates from the Philippine Military Academy, he found the information to be “toilet news.”

He added, though, that “there is no saying that the information should not be verified anymore owing to the implications that it could have on the morale of the members of our national police, both active or retired.”

Villanueva, during last Tuesday’s Senate hearing, said that he has received information that a former PNP chief received a monthly payola from Guo in connection with the operations of illegal POGOs.

Dela Rosa asked Guo during the hearing if there was truth to Villanueva’s claim, and if he was the one being referred to, to which Guo replied that there is no such thing and that she was sure that Dela Rosa is not the person mentioned by the Pagcor executive.

Guo made the statement even as she has repeatedly denied her connection or involvement in illegal POGO activities.