Daily TribuneCongressional leaders believe Ms. Guo’s arrest will lead to the unmasking of those really behind the POGOs which, according to authorities, have evolved from purely offshore gambling operations to criminal human trafficking and online scams.
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It’s beyond demonizing an Alice L. Guo selfie or fan meet insofar as Senate and House leaders are concerned.
Though justifiably disgusting a celebratory selfie with a smiling Guo is, Senate and House leaders feel we mustn’t be distracted from the fact that the criminal activities of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) didn’t end with Ms. Guo’s arrest.
Congressional leaders believe Ms. Guo’s arrest will lead to the unmasking of those really behind the POGOs which, according to authorities, have evolved from purely offshore gambling operations to criminal human trafficking and online scams.
Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero, for instance, says current congressional investigations must unmask the shadowy Chinese bosses bankrolling the criminal activities of POGOs.
“Where are the Chinese citizens behind (POGOs)? (Where are) those who are the real owners of POGOs? Why is it that up to now, I haven’t seen even one of them being pressured and browbeaten?” Escudero asked.
Similarly, Rep. Robert Ace Barbers, head of the House’s quad committee, says the super panel is already forging new laws aimed at stopping transnational criminal syndicates from operating here.
Ms. Guo and those who fell in an Indonesian dragnet, in short, are only useful in providing Congress with further leads in identifying the Chinese bosses of POGOs.
Some suspicious personalities have in fact been named.
After the arrest of Guo, for example, Indonesia’s law minister Supratman Andi Agtas said she was aided in her escape from the Philippines by a former Chinese police officer.
In all probability, Agtas was referring to Duaren Wu, a former Chinese police officer whom Cassandra Li Ong identified as her godfather in setting up Whirlwind Corp., the service provider for the raided Lucky South 99 POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga.
Congressman Barbers believes the naming of Duaren Wu confirms information that a China-based criminal syndicate is actively employing rogue Chinese cops in illegal POGO operations.
Barbers did not specifically name the Chinese crime syndicate. But in all likelihood he may have in mind the sinister South China-based Chinese Triad or one of its tentacles.
Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said a certain Jiang Jie, believed to be Guo’s business partner, was among the Chinese nationals who helped her escape to Indonesia.
“This person is very important. His name has been popping up from the start,” Gatchalian said.
Escudero, for his part, said, “It’s important for us to know this person (Jiang Je). And I believe that he is a big criminal personality in Southeast Asia. We need to alert our Southeast Asian neighbors about this person.”
Uncovering the identities of these shadowy Chinese nationals is essential, but it is also vital to note that some illegal POGOs had evolved into notorious scam centers.
In fact, both the raided Porac, Pampanga and Bamban, Tarlac POGOs were essentially scam centers involved in illegal online romance and cryptocurrency schemes.
Similarly, the recent raid on an illegal POGO operation in Lapu-Lapu City, Cebu by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) uncovered a scam farm, with some 162 trafficked foreign nationals caught working there.
PAOCC said their initial probe showed the Lapu-Lapu City scam hub was managed by five unidentified administrators who were from the Porac hub.
Illegal POGOs shifting to the far more lucrative online scam centers cannot be ignored and have to be wiped out.
Online scamming is a major global criminal enterprise and is estimated to have victimized over 350 million persons worldwide in 2023.
Southeast Asia has been a major online scam hub since 2021, focusing on illegal gambling, dating, cryptocurrencies and financial investments.
The US Institute of Peace recently estimated that Southeast Asian scamming operations generate over $43 billion annually, while the UN estimates that in 2023 the scam industry had some 220,000 human trafficking victims in Cambodia and Myanmar alone.
Incalculable, however, is the corruptive influence these illicit POGOs have on Filipino law enforcement and politicians, the far more serious issue.
