Porac POGO manager caught trying to flee in Davao airport

A Chinese woman who was attempting to leave the country via the Davao International Airport was nabbed by authorities. 

According to a report by Jonathan Andal on Monday’s 24 Oras, the woman was on the Bureau of Immigration’s (BI) watchlist and was identified as the manager of the Lucky South 99, the illegal POGO hub that was recently raided in the town of Porac, Pampanga.

“The preferred airports of these Chinese nationals coming in and out of the country are Clark, Palawan Puerto Princesa and Davao for whatever reason, we don't know,” said Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) Spokesperson Dr. Winston Casio.

The Chinese citizen will be brought to Metro Manila and questioned by PAOCC as part of its ongoing investigation.

The woman is one of 12 persons of interest connected to the illegal POGO operations in Porac that PAOCC has advised the BI to be on the lookout for.

PAOCC has also asked the BI to add on its Immigration Lookout Bulletin are Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, her siblings, former government official Dennis Cunanan who became an independent consultant of companies behind the POGO hubs in Bamban and Porac.

 “Lahat po ng may kinalaman sa kaso ng Bamban ay in-instruct na ni (Department of Justice Secretary Jesus) Remulia na maglabas na po ng IBLO, Immigration Bulletin Lookout Order. So sila Mayor, yung mga kapatid niya, Dennis Cunanan and everybody else,” said Casio.

GMA Integrated News has reached out to Guo and Cunanan for their respective comments on the issue.

'Brutal'

Meanwhile, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian conducted an ocular inspection inside the illegal PGO in Porac.

After seeing blood stains inside a room and several tools allegedly used for torture inside a restroom, Gatchalian said it was the largest and most brutal POGO establishment he has seen.

Gatchalian has accused Guo of also being involved in the POGO in Porac aside from the one in her town of Bamban. 

“Ang masasagot ko lang yung mga kausap niyang tao, nakita rin dito sa Pogo hub na ito. So, that's the link that we are referring to,” the senator said.

The senator is also recommending Porac Mayor Jaime Capil to be suspended for negligence.

“Merong negligence na nangyari. Kung ang isang mayor hindi pinapapasok. Dapat magsumbong ka na sa pUlis, mag-report ka na officially, hindi yung tatahimik ka. Dahil kung tumahimik ka...Para ka nang kasama doon sa mga krimen na nangyari", Gatchalian said.

(There is negligence. If a mayor was denied entry. He should have reported it to the police officially, instead of keeping quiet. If you kept silent… it is as if you were involved in the ongoing crime.)

Capil’s lawyer said their camp will give their response when they attend the senate hearing on Wednesday.

The senator said he is also studying whether to invite lawyer Harry Roque and his former executive assistant after several of their documents were discovered in the premises of the Porac POGO hub.  

Gatchalian said the Senate will create a law that will prohibit POGOs in the country, including those operating legally, since these are gateways for criminal syndicates to enter the Philippines. 

"Walang legal at illegal dahil yung mastermind nasa legal at illegal. Kaya ako nananawagan sa ating Pangulo na i-ban na itong POGO dahil lumalala, lumalawak yung kanilang galamay," said Gatchalian.

(There is no legal or illegal since the masterminds are both legal and illegal. I am calling on the President to ban POGO since it is getting worse, their tentacles continue to spread.)

On Tuesday, two Chinese will be charged with kidnapping and serious physical injury complaints at the Justice Department for allegedly torturing and kidnapping victims in the Porac POGO.

A forfeiture case is also being prepared that will transfer control of the abandoned illegal POGO in Porac to the government.

 If and when the court awards the 10-hectare compound to PAOCC, the agency said it will recommend the property to be turned into a school. —RF, GMA Integrated News