In case you are to imagine the primary forged of the POGO (Philippine offshore gaming operators) scandal — Alice Guo and Cassandra Li Ong — they’re younger Chinese language-Filipino girls who have been simply very enterprise savvy.
However a yr’s price of presidency investigation has revealed proof of an alleged felony enterprise that may produce tens of thousands and thousands of pesos every day per scamming hub, based on operatives.
Whereas it isn’t but clear who designed the felony POGO masterplan — since evidently the scamming infrastructure has lengthy existed within the nation — Guo and Ong stay on the heart of human trafficking and cash laundering fits. Lawmakers are hoping that each will finally squeal and title larger fish.
Within the meantime, the items of the puzzle reveal an intricate enterprise. These particulars are based mostly on paperwork independently obtained by Rappler, introduced by senators, and filed earlier than prosecutors. Guo has not addressed many of those points, usually invoking her proper towards self-incrimination throughout her first look within the Senate on Monday, September 9, since her arrest in Indonesia.
Bamban and Porac
There are two hubs which were raided:
- Bamban, Tarlac – Baofu Land Growth Inc. is the true property firm that leased its compound to the POGO licensee, Hongsheng Gaming Know-how Inc., later renamed Zun Yuan Know-how Inc. Baofu was included by Guo.
- Porac, Pampanga – Whirlwind Company is the true property firm that leased its compound to the POGO licensee, Fortunate South 99. Ong is the secretary/treasurer of Whirlwind as of 2024.
Each Guo and Ong declare they have been simply lessors. Ong informed the Home of Representatives that she isn’t near Guo, and their relationship stops at Ong being the girlfriend of Guo’s brother, Wesley. Guo informed the Senate that Ong launched her to the supposed huge boss of the Porac operations, Duanren Wu. (Wu is the incorporator of Whirlwind, and Ong’s godfather.)
What do the paperwork and testimonies say?
Though Whirlwind relies in Pampanga, it registered its firm within the Securities and Alternate Fee (SEC) extension workplace in Tarlac, based on their 2019 incorporation information. Stephanie Mascareñas, who’s registered as an incorporator of each Whirlwind and Fortunate South 99, informed the Home they acquired their papers notarized in Bamban. “Wala po ako ‘nung nag-notarize. Sa pagkakatanda ko, nag-notarize siya sa Bamban (I used to be not there once they notarized. If I recall, they notarized it in Bamban),” stated Mascareñas.
When Guo included Baofu in Could 2019, with Chinese language fugitive Huang Zhiyang and Zhang Ruijin of the Singapore cash laundering case, the corporate didn’t have sufficient capital “to afford the development of the buildings price a whole lot of thousands and thousands, and even billions, which have been purportedly leased to Hong Sheng and Zun Yuan,” based on the cash laundering grievance filed towards Guo and Ong on the Division of Justice (DOJ).
That is the place Ong helped, based on investigators, as a result of the 24-year-old allegedly was “additionally a silent accomplice within the Bamban Pogo, as she was the one who contributed within the development of the Baofu compound,” stated the identical grievance.
The operations
Right here is how the hubs function, based on operatives, because the POGO licensee isn’t the only firm. As a substitute, it rents out its infrastructure, sturdy web connection within the bundle, to sub-licensees. These are Enterprise Course of Outsourcing (BPOs) appearing as service suppliers.
Ong indicated this design, too, to the Home Quad Committee. “Hindi ako half ng POGO operations…kasi si Fortunate South pinaparenta lang niya sa mga POGO po.” (I’m not a part of the POGO operations, as a result of Fortunate South solely rents it out to POGOs.)
This layered design, which permits many sub-licensees, was distinctive to the POGO as invented by the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Company (Pagcor) beneath former president Rodrigo Duterte. This was based on Katrina Ponce Enrile of the Cagayan Financial Zone Authority (CEZA) which claims to have pioneered a worthwhile mannequin for offshore gaming pre-Duterte.
“POGOs sub-licensing mannequin additionally allowed these all fly-by-night and rip-off operators to proliferate as Pagcor is now not in a position to monitor how deep the sub-licenses go,” stated Enrile throughout a July 31 Home listening to.
Within the case of the Bamban hub at the least, Guo added extra layers. She had all the time admitted to proudly owning a number of family-owned corporations associated to piggery, meat, and embroidery, and which she claimed, was the supply of her wealth. A type of firms, QJJ Farm, deposited a complete of P100 million price of checks to Baofu, break up over 10 transactions in simply two days, from June 23 to 25 in 2020.
“These transactions had no rational and underlying commerce obligation between a piggery farm and an actual property firm. Essentially the most logical interpretation of those transactions would both be QJJ Farm is financing Baofu or QJJ Farm is the pass-through entity for Baofu,” stated the money-laundering grievance.
Investigators additionally discovered that Baofu stopped utilizing the formal banking system after September 2020, whereas Zun Yuan by no means opened any financial institution accounts. This bolsters their perception that QJJ was used as a pass-through.
One other crimson flag for QJJ Farm is that it was utilized by Guo to deposit a complete of P8 million in 2016 and 2017 to an organization that’s thought of by the Anti-Cash Laundering Council (AMLC) as a “particular person of curiosity for unlawful drug exercise,” based on the Courtroom of Appeals’ decision approving the request to freeze 90 financial institution accounts, 12 actual properties, 12 automobiles, and one helicopter belonging to Guo and different enterprise companions.
The Bamban hub was price at the least P6 billion earlier than it was raided and shut, based on Senator Sherwin Gatchalian.
This cash circulation led investigators to this conclusion: “Alice Guo and her cohorts supposed to create layers and layers of companies to make it seem that they have been engaged in worthwhile and legit companies, however in truth, they don’t seem to be.”
Rappler earlier reported that Guo, based on courtroom certifications, lied when she claimed that she divested from Baofu earlier than she ran and gained as mayor of Bamban in 2022.
One and the identical
Ong, then again, would have you ever imagine that being an officer of the leasing firm, and never the POGO licensee, isolates her from all of the mess. She insisted on this at the same time as she admitted that she was the one who tried to resume Fortunate South’s license with Pagcor.
She did so as a result of if Fortunate South loses enterprise, Whirlwind additionally loses enterprise. In actual fact, Whirlwind’s solely cause for existence is for Fortunate South to exist. That’s based on Harry Roque, former Duterte spokesperson, who figures on this scandal as a result of he helped Ong set a gathering with Pagcor executives.
“Siguro naman maiintindihan ninyo na kapag might nangyari sa umuupa sa iyong property, na wala namang ibang function kundi para sa POGO, mawawalan ka ng kita,” stated Roque throughout the July 31 listening to on the Home.
(Perhaps you’d perceive the truth that if one thing occurs to the one renting your property, which has no different function than for POGO, you’ll lose revenue.)
In actual fact, Ong herself stated Whirlwind and Fortunate South was one entity. “Nung una po, ‘yung Fortunate South and Whirlwind po iisa, pero nung huli naibenta na po si Fortunate South. [Naibenta] final yr,” stated Ong. (At first, Fortunate South and Whirlwind have been one, however finally Fortunate South was bought. It was bought final yr.)
Who helped who?
Have been the operations of Bamban and Porac synced? Other than the truth that Whirlwind’s papers have been processed in Tarlac, each POGOs employed the identical particular person to be its advisor to transact with authorities — Dennis Cunanan, a former authorities official convicted (and acquitted in some instances) for his position within the pork barrel rip-off. Paperwork obtained by Rappler show his advisor capacities for each Hongsheng and Fortunate South.
What isn’t clear is between the 2, who helped who? Who had the unique concept? Based mostly on SEC incorporation papers, Guo’s Baofu included first, on Could 3, 2019, after which Whirlwind included on August 2, 2019.
Nevertheless, paperwork additionally confirmed that even earlier than Baofu was included in Could, Guo was already signing deeds of sale as early as February that yr to accumulate the lands within the compound.
By April, these deeds of sale had transferred to Baofu although the corporate had but to register with the SEC, based on the grievance. “The 05 April 2019 transactions have been the premise of the switch of the Certificates of Title to Baofu, as the identical have been connected to the Certificates Authorizing Registration issued by the Bureau of Inside Income. Emphasis should be made that Baofu isn’t but included. Nevertheless, it already acquired properties by means of respondent Alice Guo,” stated the grievance.
The course of the Senate’s investigation to resolve the POGO scandal can be headed within the course of Guo and Bamban. Senator Jinggoy Estrada believes the massive boss to be Huang Zhiyang, Guo’s co-incorporator in Baofu. Huang Zhiyang was additionally incorporator of Solar Valley, a beforehand raided POGO in Clark, Pampanga.
Rappler’s sources inside and outdoors authorities who’re aware about the gaming world imagine that if not the massive boss, the POGO patron within the Philippines is any individual else. It’s somebody who’s identified to senators, and it seems that Senator Risa Hontiveros is aware of this particular person, too.
She stated on June 26: “Could kinalaman sa isang napakalaking imbestigasyon ng Senadong ito noong nakaraang Kongreso pa, ilalabas po natin ito sa tamang panahon.” (That is related to an previous huge investigation by the Senate within the earlier Congress, and we’ll reveal it on the correct time.)
Are rip-off hubs a Philippine invention? Undoubtedly not. The Philippines was simply the subsequent vacation spot of felony syndicates when China and Cambodia began a large crackdown on on line casino scams within the Golden Triangle. In actual fact, AMLC observed an uptick in casino-related suspicious transactions in 2020, after Pagcor resumed issuing POGO licenses. (It was paused as a result of POGOs had attracted scrutiny that yr).
Guo is going through at the least 4 felony investigations, one in all which (for graft) has already been filed in courtroom. The three others for certified trafficking, cash laundering, and tax evasion are pending earlier than prosecutors. Ong is going through felony investigations for certified trafficking and cash laundering, additionally each pending earlier than prosecutors.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. has banned all POGOs, and even these with no felony rip-off operations have been instructed to wind down earlier than the yr ends. – with studies from Joann Manabat/Rappler.com
