At final POGO hearing, senator blasts scam mayor, alleged Chinese espionage
On Tuesday, a Senate committee concluded its probe into Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGOs), banned this summer after revelations about rampant crime and Chinese infiltration.
The hearing ended with a stinging rebuke from senator Risa Hontiveros, deputy minority leader and head of the committee investigating POGOs.
POGOs “have been revealed to be nothing but a Trojan horse” that dealt in online fraud, used forced labour and threatened national security, said Hontiveros, as reported by the Manila Standard. “They have exposed a web of people who used POGOs for their own selfish interests, their own personal gain— all at the expense of the Filipino people.”
She listed a range of “heinous crimes including large-scale scamming, corruption, kidnapping, torture, prostitution and human trafficking.”
Scam farms
POGOs launched in 2016, reportedly drawn by the Philippines’ lenient gaming regulations. While some licenced operations apparently played by the rules, others were simply “scam farms”.
Former workers reported being lured by good-paying jobs, then held against their will and forced to work for their freedom. Some were threatened with torture if they did not meet daily quotas.
In July, president Ferdinand Marcos Jr. banned the industry, saying, “This grave abuse and disrespect of our laws must stop”.
Scam mayor
At today’s hearing, Hontiveros said the objective “has never been to prove any single individual guilty.” Even so, she singled out Alice Guo, the notorious “POGO mayor”. The mediagenic young woman has become an object of public fascination since her misdeeds came to light.
Alice Guo is actually a Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping. She ran for office in 2022 using false identification, including a bogus birth certificate. She was elected mayor of Bamban, and during her term, allegedly ran a large-scale POGO in the provincial town.
After a March raid of the facility, Guo dropped out of sight, and later fled the country. Police caught up with her in Indonesia, and she was returned to the Philippines. Since then, she has been held without bail on charges of money laundering and human trafficking.
According to the Philippine Inquirer, Guo was slated to attend today’s hearing. But a Pasig City court denied the senate panel request due to a judicial scheduling conflict.
Nevertheless, Hontiveros told the defendant, “Guo Hua Ping, this committee has unmasked you as a Chinese national mocking our Filipino identity to amass wealth and commit crimes against true Filipinos. I leave your fate, Ms. Guo, up to our courts, and I look forward to the day you face justice”.
Hontiveros: Philippines need reform
At the end of the session, Hontiveros again called for the government to make Marcos’ ban failsafe.
The president recently signed Executive Order 74, banning internet gaming and support services from doing business in the Philippines. But he dismissed requests to enshrine the ban as law, calling the EO “sufficient” to deter future illicit operations.
Hontiveros disagrees, and said so today before a rapt national audience.
“Friends, this may be the end of our hearings on POGO”, she said. “But this is only the beginning of legislative reforms we will strive to push, to assure every Filipino there will never be another Alice Guo”.