By Adolfo Quizon Paglinawan

 

Part Two of Three: Missing Sanity in Our Legislative Box

The preventive suspension of Mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac on the motion of Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) against her, should now open a larger investigation of the President Ferdinand Romualdez Marcos Jr., himself.

Regardless of whatever grounds submitted to Ombudsman Samuel Martires by Secretary Benhur Abalos, to suspended Guo, something is definitely rotten in Denmark on why the highest office of the land has been used to strike hammers and tongs, to pin down a mayor of a lowly third-class municipality.

 And since there is no one in government more powerful than the president, I therefore submit this investigation to be conducted by we, the people of this Republic, the absolute sovereign.

My experience with Ombudsman Martires has also not been regarded with any hint of dispatch that was accorded to the complaint against Ms. Guo. On November 2019, I filed a case against then Labor Secretary Bello for crimes of graft and corruption, under RA 3019 and RA 6713 and also, under Article 208 of the Revised Penal Code for Abuse of Power.”

https://manilastandard.net/?p=310403

Four years to today, not only have I not gotten any notice of receipt from the Ombudsman’s office, there has been no action on the issue to this date. The accused is scot-free, now serving a juicy position in this government as chairman and resident representative of the Manila Economic and Cultural Office in Taiwan.

Witch hunt in aid of shame

Tsinoy civic-leader Teresita Ang See’s timely concern that the ongoing Senate investigation on the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) has turned into a witch hunt onto the lifestyle of a Tarlac mayor suspected of hiding “her real identity as a Chinese national”.

“Many of my comments echoed by many of my friends is why was the investigation at the Senate sidetracked?” Ang See told “Storycon” on One News.

“It started with an investigation on POGO, which we really, really welcome… But now, it has become a zarzuela. It’s very irritating to see our senators – with so many national problems – going below decency and digging out dirt, digging about boyfriends, “kasambahay” (housemaids) and all these things,” she added.

The lady civic leader was referring to the Senate hearings on the POGO operations in Bamban, Tarlac, which has focused instead on the identity of the town’s mayor, Alice Guo, with a twisted insinuation that she is a China spy.

“Senate should focus on the issues that aid legislation. The irritable tear-jerker zarzuela serves only to detract from the problems,” Ang See said.

The Manila Times came out with an editorial saying that just as it has seen time and time again, “an inquisition staged for the purpose of allowing senators to make a public spectacle of themselves while willfully disrespecting every principle of due process, civil rights, and even basic common sense and courtesy is utterly failing to provide those answers, and in fact, is likely making it more difficult if not impossible to resolve the real issues involved.”

As one of the only two remaining credible broadsheets in mainstream media (the other one is Business Mirror) , the Times said the Senate leadership should have put a stop to Hontiveros’ meddling right there because the hearing that devolved into an undisciplined interrogation of Guo about her personal origins that is “beyond disreputable”.

The newspaper challenges the Senate generally and Senator Hontiveros in her capacity as committee chairman specifically, to spell out what actual or possible legislation is the objective of the inquiry as “frankly, it is not apparent at this point.”

 Indeed, there are already pending measures for the complete abolition of the POGO businesses, important bills that the Senate probably could have passed already if it were not wasting its time on irrelevant hearings.

Senate Minority Leader Aquilino Pimentel III agrees with Madam Ang See and the Times.

“Why is the hearing now about her (Guo)? The hearing is about POGO. Let’s go back to POGO and let’s all unite to get rid of it, ban POGO here in the Philippines.” He added that if warranted, appropriate cases should be filed before the proper agencies.

Barking at wrong tsinoy or wrong girl?

It was the Manila Times editorial that gave me the “eureka” moment.

The Times concludes that “We already have laws against fraud, theft, human trafficking and engagement in criminal activity by elected officials. It seems to us that the operation carried out by law enforcement authorities against the POGOs in Bamban is an indication that those laws are, in fact, working.”

So why in heaven’s name are enormous powers of the presidency being thrown at a small-town mayor who obviously do not have enormous capability, power and influence to command, much more protect such a complicated business as POGO.

What is particularly curious, in the midst of All this hoopla, is why is Al Tengco, the chairman of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation being kept invisible from this investigation?

Presidential Decree No. 1067A established PAGCOR to centralize and control all games of chance, generate revenue for infrastructure projects, improve tourist attractions, and eliminate corruption in gambling operations. POGOs are online gambling firms that operate in the Philippines but cater to customers outside the country.

To operate legally, they must be licensed by the PAGCOR. Large-scale offshore gambling in the Philippines dates back to approximately 2003 but licensing started in 2016. During its peak in 2019, there were almost 300 licensees but stricter regulations reduced the number of operating POGOs to about 75 by the end of 2023. Since August 2019, PAGCOR has banned licenses for new firms.

The life of a POGO depends upon PAGCOR licensing, the heart of a POGO belongs to PAGCOR, as this is the government corporation that regulates its activities. This is precisely the reason why PAGCOR has an office inside the POGO facility in Bamban.

Deep connections with Malacanang

This is why the exclusion of Tengco from all these investigations is deafening.

Is it because he is one of Liza Araneta-Marcos’ best-friends-forever? Of course it is kept from public eye that their friendship has had a span of over 40 years since their school days at the Ateneo Law batch 1985. They were so-close, both shared many memories with the Ateneo Balikatan Spiritual Group and its outreach projects nationwide.

The intimacy speaks for itself. Tengco is a permanent fixture in the Marcos couple’s social life.

Last August 2022, Marcos announced former Malolos vice mayor Al Tengco, as the new chairman of PAGCORr besting presidential besties Ram Antonio, Anton Lagdameo and George Erwin Garcia.

Significantly, the new chairman plans, for instance, to privatize all land-based casinos owned and operated by PAGCOR in the second half of 2025 so that the agency could just stick to its regulatory mandate. According to him, this move would allay any conflict-of-interest concerns when it comes to regulating private casinos. While this has always been the plan even by previous PAGCOR chiefs, he said none of his predecessors succeeded in fulfilling this task. Of course, he won’t say who would profit most from the cash cow this generate estimated to reach P60 billion.

But one of Tengco’s platforms is to keep the POGO sector alive, despite the controversies, saying that it provides employment to close to 70,000 Filipinos. Obviously, his position is at loggerheads with the pending bill in Congress for the banning of POGOs. This is a most important consideration if the Senate is contemplating the total ban of POGOS.

How will he justify his protection of the POGO industry in contradiction to the extreme social cost Gatchalian and Hontiveros are complaining about? This is a debate we will never see, as both senators seems to be tiptoeing around the vicinity. In fact, this better suits William Gatchalian’s appetite for government revenues as chair of the Senate Committee on Ways and Means.

The senator should like to know what developments followed last year’s announcement by Al Tengco that legal action is underway for 33 POGOs or offshore gaming licensees with unpaid fees and the testy P2.2 billion receivable left unpaid after the licensee left the country in the middle of the pandemic.

Out of the 33 erring Pogo firms, Tengco said five have already closed, but he insisted that PAGCOR will ensure that “what is due shall be dealt with legally.” Duh?

Always brinkmanship

The public also wants to know why PAGCOR seemed delayed instead of proactive in its regulatory functions affecting the Bamban POGO.

On February 1, 2023, authorities raided a POGO firm Hongsheng Gaming Technology, Inc., allegedly engaged in a cryptocurrency investment scam, in Bamban, through a warrant issued by the Tarlac City Regional Trial Court (RTC). Up to 851 workers—351 foreigners and 500 Filipinos—were held; three other officers of the company were at large.

On March 13, 2024, authorities raided the same compound for the second time, serving two search warrants issued by the Malolos, Bulacan RTC against Zun Yuan Technology Inc., and rescuing more than 600 workers. Various firearms and alleged scamming paraphernalia were seized.

Nine of the rescued Filipinos were considered as witnesses, as there were allegations of physical abuse and torture, as well as illegal activities in the POGO hub, including scams. The foreigners were reportedly staying illegally in the country; eight of them were charged with human trafficking and serious illegal detention at the Capas RTC.

Aside from offices and dormitories in the POGO compound, further search in the 7.9-hectare complex, which is owned by Baofu Land Development Inc. and located beside the municipal hall, revealed 36 structures including nine villas and a swimming pool, underground tunnels connecting three villas, and 38 to 51vehicles, as well as nine carts and heavy equipment.

Almost ₱8-million in cold cash, cryptocurrency-related materials, and documents, among other items, were found in all 27 vaults.

Malacanang intervention

Where is PAGCOR in all this? Isn’t Al Tengco supposed to be on top of all this?

Isn’t it more relevant to find out why regulation only works at the brink of things irreversible such as closure? If POGOs would not be banned, definitely the senators could assist PAGCOR and law enforcement agencies to institute safeguards so that crimes are prevented at the earliest possible sign.

That Malacanang had to intervene on April 9, 2024 is suspect.

Do remedies have to go as high as Executive Secretary Lucas Bersamin directing the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze and preserve the entire compound, including other assets, of the Bamban POGO? Doesn’t PAGCOR have a recourse to this measure, and if it doesn’t, wouldn’t this be considered a good subject of legislative amendment of its charter considering its operational expanse and severity of industry conditions when it comes to regulation and law enforcement?

The memorandum Bersamin issued directing the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) to facilitate the “summary deportation” of the 499 foreign workers who were rescued during the raid on the premises of Zun Yuan Technology Inc. on March 13, is also suspect. Definitely the rush at sending them back to China contradicts suspicions of Chinese espionage.

This why I smell something fishy in President Marcos’ personal interest in launching an investigation regarding the mayor’s origins, citizenship and legal right to hold public office, especially innuendoes about her possible links to China yet he allowed 499 possible witnesses against Mayor Guo to disappear.    

So, what can we conclude further in our content analysis?  It was the president himself who gave the signal to divert the issue from PAGCOR to a lowly town mayor by initiating talking points for deeper senate investigations and activating the Office of the Solicitor-General as if this were a federal case.

Read his lips: “We’ve been investigating them. That’s why we caught them. We raided the hub in Bamban and we saw the documents.”  But instead on dealing with the crimes committed and law enforcement, towards where did the president bedeviled the public?

The president sensationalized the issue saying no one among Tarlac’s local politicians had heard of Guo prior to her winning the 2022 election. “I know all the politicians in Tarlac, and no one knows her. We’re wondering where she came from. How did this happen? We don’t know.”

“We then questioned how was she able to run for mayor?” he told reporters.

He expressed support for the Senate investigation on Guo’s alleged connections to an offshore gaming hub, to the extent of instructing Solicitor General Menardo Guevara’s to create a task force to authenticate Guo’s credentials to the extent of seeking quo warranto proceedings against her?

Quo warranto? A task force? Why is Marcos making a mountain out of a citizenship molehill?

To complete the katzenjammer canard, Guevara now wants us to believe the canard that his office acted motu proprio, or on its own initiative, to investigate Guo.

The task force, he said, is in the fact-finding stage, “gathering relevant information” from the Comelec, the Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Department of Education, the Philippine Statistics Authority, and the Bureau of Immigration, among other government agencies.

Is there something leaking in Malacanang’s plumbing, that Marcos had to preempt everybody by throwing the kitchen at Mayor Guo?#

To be continued. Next: A Taiwanese Spy? Investigate the Remullas!

   

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