CDC execs face raps over illegal gambling, undocumented workers at Clark

An anti-corruption watchdog on Monday filed with the Office of the Ombudsman graft and other criminal cases against six top officials of the Clark Development Corporation (CDC) for allegedly coddling foreign workers without permits and allowing illegal online gambling.

ATM filed the complaint following its own investigation showing the proliferation of illegal online gambling/gaming operations within the Clark Freeport Zone, many of which it said were being run, managed and staffed by undocumented aliens.

Among the establishments where the undocumented foreigners reportedly work were the Fontana Leisure Park and Casino and Donggwang Annex Building.

ATM said CDC categorically denied the presence of illegal online gambling operations or the influx of undocumented aliens in the Clark Freeport Zone in the letter it sent in response to the group's initial query in September.

ATM said as the administrative governing authority for the Clark Freeport Zone, CDC has detailed procedures covering very aspect of the locators’ existence and operational life from the issuance and renewal of business permits to issuance of investor visas and work permits to application for labor assessment and labor clearance, among others.

Since CD processes the papers of those doing business in Clark, ATM said authorities could have detected and exposed the presence of the huge group of Chinese nationals illegally working at the Fontana Leisure Park and Casino and the numerous illegal aliens at the Donggwang Annex Building if the Legal Affairs office did its job.

Charged with graft and violations of the immigration law and ethics code for government employees were:

• Atty. Perlita M. Sagmit, CDC Vice President for Legal Affairs;
• Evangeline G. Tejada, Vice President of the Business Development and Business Enhancement Group;
• Thelma C. Ocampo, Assistant Vice President of Business Development Department I;
• Rodem R. Perez, Assistant Vice President of Business Development Department II;
• Atty. Noelle Mina D. Meneses, Assistant Vice President of Business Enhancement Department;
• Anthony Emmanuel G. Tulabut, Manager of the Communication Division and
• other unnamed public officers and personnel of the Clark Development Corporation.

Last November, the Bureau of Immigration apprehended a record 1,316 Chinese nationals illegally working at Fontana, which is owned by Macau-based gambling mogul Jack Lam.

Prior to this, the BI arrested in September 154 undocumented Chinese nationals who were allegedly engaged in illegal online gambling at the Dong Gwang Annex Building. —KBK, GMA News