Surigao del Norte Rep. Rober Ace Barbers on Sunday said Congress could grant Cassandra Ong’s request for jail detention if she continues not to cooperate in the Philippine offshore gaming operator’s investigation.
“Since she was saying that she wanted to be detained in jail rather than the detention facility of Congress, we will give her that. If you (Ong) can’t give us information about the issue of illegal POGO…,” he said.
Barbers is the overall chairman of the House of Representatives quad committee composed of four joint committees.
The House of Representatives is investigating Lucky South 99’s alleged link to illegal operations in the raided POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga.
Ong’s lawyer, Ferdinand Topacio, said Ong preferred a jail detention than proceed with the probe into the escape of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo and suffer from further shaming.
Ong, who is being linked to a Porac, Pampanga Philippine offshore gaming operator, was charged with a non-bailable human trafficking complaint.
She is Lucky South’s authorized representative and signatory in the POGO’s application for an internet gaming license with the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. in 2023.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) meanwhile secured the approval of the Supreme Court (SC) for the transfer of cases involving dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo from the Regional Trial Court (RTC) Branch 66 of Capas, Tarlac to the National Capital Region (NCR).
Aside from Guo, others to be charged in court are her business partners including Huang Zhiyang, the foreign national identified as the “boss of all bosses” of illegal POGOs by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) and a sitting legislator.
In a letter dated 22 April 2024 addressed to the Honorable Chief Justice Alexander G. Gesmundo, Department of Justice (DOJ) Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla urged the High Tribunal to transfer to Metro Manila criminal case numbers 9855-9857 (People of the Philippines vs. Ma The Pong, Wang Weili, Lang Xu et. al) which are handled by the said RTC.
Department of He cited the pressing need to safeguard national interest and ensure fairness in the justice system considering these high profile cases exceed local boundaries which affect national security and general policies.
Remulla emphasized the importance of preserving the integrity of trial proceedings by preventing possible local biases or undue influences thereto with the utilization of a neutral venue along with the court’s blessing.
The SC found the said request to be meritorious and ordered the Tarlac court to transfer all the files related to the disputed cases to the Pasig City RTC.
Meanwhile, DOJ Undersecretary-in-Charge of the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT) Nicholas Felix L. Ty said the charges will be filed this week before the appropriate RTC.
The charges stemmed from the complaint filed by the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and the PAOCC.
The DOJ will be pursuing non-bailable qualified human trafficking charges for violation of Republic Act (RA) 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, as amended, after finding a reasonable certainty of conviction based on available records and witnesses. Pot Chavez
