Hontiveros points to his ‘open door policy’ as culprit
The Senate panel on women will pursue its probe on illegal POGO activities and see if the evidence will extend to former President Rodrigo Duterte, Senator Risa Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros said the POGO problem can be traced to the open door policy of Duterte that allowed illegal online gaming scams and other POGO-related criminal activities.
“It was during Duterte’s term when we had a de facto open door policy and we are confronted until now by the ill effects of POGOs,” the senator said.
“So while we are following this investigation, the connections to Gerald Cruz and Michael Yang are surfacing. We will see where the evidence will take us, and if this time around we can connect the dotted lines to Duterte,” Hontiveros added.
The senator accused Yang, Duterte’s former economic adviser, of having ties to illegal POGO operations.
Hontiveros also disclosed that Cruz, an incorporator of the service provider Brickhartz linked to the raided POGO hub in Bamban, Tarlac, is also an incorporator of Pharmally Biological and Yang’s Full Win Group of Companies.
Former Duterte spokesperson Harry Roque will also be summoned to explain his alleged links to Lucky South 99, the illegal POGO raided in Porac, Pampanga last month, Hontiveros said.
As this developed, the Senate panel on Wednesday ordered the arrest of suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Leal Guo or Guo Hua Ping and seven other persons to compel their attendance in the next hearing into the illegal POGO operations.
Aside from Guo, Hontiveros also cited in contempt and ordered the arrest of five of the mayor’s family members — her biological parents Wenyi Lin and Jian Zhong Guo, her brothers Seimen Guo and Wesley Guo and sister Shiela Guo — as well as Guo’s alleged former consultant, Nancy Gamo and for head of the now defunct Technology and Livelihood Resource Center Dennis Cunanan.
It was the second time Guo skipped the hearing, citing mental health problems.
Guo’s filed a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court Wednesday to block the invitations and subpoena of the Senate panel.
The suspended mayor also asked the high court to direct the Senate committee to desist from inviting her to attend the hearing.
Her lawyers said Guo has already been tagged as a “spy” and “POGO operator” during the hearings.
“Her Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and rights have been repeatedly violated, ignored, and/or disregarded,” Guo’s lawyers said.
In a letter sent to Hontiveros, Guo noted that malicious accusations being hurled against her has taken a toll on her health.
She said has also been receiving death threats which she cannot ignore.
Senators, however, rejected Guo’s alibi.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada said a government or even a Senate doctor can check on Guo’s condition before she testifies in the next hearing, which has yet to be scheduled.
In the same hearing, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said it was not true that Guo did not have any formal schooling and was home schooled under a certain Teacher Rubilyn.
He said Guo Hua Ping, the mayor’s alleged real name, studied in the same school in Quezon City were he went.
Showing Guo’s school records, Gatchalian said she was enrolled from Grade 1 to Grade 3 at the Grace Christian High School from 2000 to 2003.
“In my recollection, there is no farm there, just buildings,” he said.
Meanwhile, PAGCOR chairperson Alejandro Tengco said Roque was the Cabinet official who helped earlier helped a POGO firm secure a license.
Tengco said that sometimes on July 26, 2023, Roque, along with Cassandra Lee Ong, visited him in his office in Ermita, Manila.
Roque requested the PAGCOR chief to help Ong, who was allegedly duped by Cunanan, who was the authorized representative of her POGO firm to pay its taxes.
But Ong was informed by PAGCOR that Cunanan did not remit the $500,000 that was supposed to cover her company’s taxes for six months.
Roque vehemently denied reports claiming that Tengco said he represented an illegal POGO.
“As clearly stated by Tengco in today’s Senate hearing, I requested a rescheduling of arrears payment of a lessee and principal of my client Whirlwind Corporation. My client is a service provider to Lucky South, then a holder of a valid license from PAGCOR,” he said.
“I clarify that I did not consent to nor was I informed of my name’s inclusion in any submission by Lucky South with PAGCOR concerning license renewal,” Roque said.