Detained spy holds key: Arrange meeting, Senate committee urges DFA

Senator Risa Hontiveros has called on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to arrange an urgent meeting with detained tycoon and confessed Chinese spy She Zhijiang, who was featured in an Al Jazeera documentary on Chinese agents and gambling hubs.

The meeting is aimed at ramping up the investigation into the alleged involvement of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo in espionage activities for China in the Philippines.

Hontiveros emphasized that the explosive revelations made by She in the Al Jazeera documentary were crucial to the investigation of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality which she chairs and two other panels.

“Just two weeks ago, Al Jazeera released a documentary that revealed shocking truths about Guo Hua Ping, also known as Alice Guo,” she said, highlighting the urgency of her request.

At the continuation of the Senate investigation into illegal POGOs on Tuesday, Hontiveros showed a video interview of She Zhijiang’s cellmate, Wang Fugui, who also said that Guo was a Chinese spy.

“The committee makes of record that it does not necessarily endorse the comments on the illegality of the arrest of Mr. She or its motivations, geopolitical or otherwise,” she said. She is in jail in Thailand for human trafficking, scamming, and other criminal activities.

“However, if our national security is implicated, it is our responsibility to listen and to investigate further. Ignoring these questions that strike at the heart of our national security would be the height of folly,” Hontiveros said.

It was revealed during the hearing that She and a Ma Dongli — the supposed China state agents’ handler — had traveled multiple times to the Philippines.

Citing immigration records, Senator Win Gatchalian said Ma Dongli had been in and out of the Philippines between 1995 and 2019.

“Ma Dongli is not new to our country. In fact, checking the flights from 1995 to 2019, he traveled to the Philippines 37 times,” he said.

Gatchalian said She also had made multiple trips to the Philippines from 2011 to 2020.

“She Zhijiang is not new to us either. From 2011 to 2020, he traveled to the Philippines 21 times,” he said.

According to Gatchalian, these Chinese nationals had been going in and out of the country.

“They come in and out of our country, and we all know that Mr. She was imprisoned in Thailand for the same crimes — human trafficking, scamming, and other criminal activities,” he said.

Gatchalian also noted that Ma Dongli was She’s partner in the Yatai Myanmar company, which operated a POGO hub in Myanmar. “So, in other words, these two are connected,” he said.

Hontiveros said the committees had validated some of the “verifiable claims” mentioned in the documentary and Wang Fugui’s statement, including She Zhijiang’s travel records and his deep ties to the Philippines.

“This is clear as day — the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) used local government officials and law enforcement. There are indications they were also used by foreign interests and nests of syndicates,” she added.

Despite being tagged in espionage, Guo maintained she was not a Chinese spy and denied knowing She.