DISMISSED Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo, or Guo Hua Ping, has denied that she is the “Madam Wah” named by a witness as the alleged business partner of arrested Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) “boss of boss” Lin Xunhan, aka Lyu Dong.
Lawyer Stephen David, legal counsel of Guo, said his client made the denial amid reports linking her to Lin, who was arrested in Biñan, Laguna last week.
In an interview with GMA-7’s Unang Balita, David likewise said Guo has denied knowing Lin.
He quoted the dismissed mayor as saying that her only connection to the POGO industry was through Huang Zhiyang, which bought her property in Bamban where its POGO facility was put up.
“Naiinis siya kasi unang-una, wala namang katotohanan ‘yang mga ganyang alegasyon. Ang maganda niyan, nahuli naman yata ‘yung sinasabing tao na ‘yan, eh di i-crosss exam natin (She is annoyed be-cause those kinds of allegations are baseless. It is best if we can cross examine that person since he has been arrested),” David said.
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) has said that one of the individuals who formerly worked for Lin, who is also known as “Boss Boga,” has claimed seeing Guo transacting with Lin.
The witness supposedly said he knew as “Madam Wah.”
“Nag-aabot po si Boss Boga ng pera kay Madam Wah. Si Madam Wah ay nagre-report kay Boss Boga kung ano na ‘yung status ng pagtatayo doon sa Baofu Land. So ‘yun, magka-partner sila, mas mataas lang po sa kanya si Boss Boga (Boss Boga used to give money to Madama Wah. She reports to Boss Boga on the status of the construction [of the POGO hub in Bamban, Tarlac]. They are partners, but Boss Bo-ga is superior to her),” the witness has been quoted as saying.
Combined operatives led by the PAOCC arrested Lin on Thursday night at his house at the Las Villas de Manila subdivision in Binan, Laguna after an extensive eight-month surveillance.
The arresting team was armed with an immigration mission order.
The PAOCC described Lin as “a figure of significant concern within the landscape of organized crimes in the Philippines” who has allegedly built a systematic network of scam farms, which employed legal busi-nesses as fronts for his illegal activities since 2016.
The PAOCC said the passport that Lin was carrying when he was arrested showed his birthdate as July 4, 1991, while his other passport, which has the name Lyu Dong, had a birthdate of August 14, 1989.
David also reiterated Guo’s denial that she is a Chinese spy, saying that the allegation is hearsay.
Guo has told lawmakers that she does not know She Zhiang, a wanted Chinese man linked to human trafficking, extortion, and cyber scams, who had claimed that in a documentary shown by al Jazeera that the dismissed mayor is a Chinese spy. She was arrested in Thailand in August 2022.
Wang Fu Gui, who said he was a cellmate of She in the Thai jail, had also said that Guo is a Chinese spy based on the information supposedly shared by She.
Meanwhile, the Bureau of Immigration (BI) yesterday said Mylah Roque, the wife of former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque, has left the country even before an immigration lookout bulletin order (IL-BO) was issued against her.
BI spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval said Mrs. Roque left the country on September 3 and has not re-turned since.
“Si Ms. Mylah Roque po is out of the country since September 3. Her lookout bulletin order was issued on September 16,” Sandoval told the “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon” public forum.
An ILBO will not prevent an individual from leaving the country as it is only meant to alert authorities of the subject’s travel details.
Only a hold departure order (HDO) issued by the courts can prevent an individual from leaving the coun-try.
Mrs. Roque is the subject of an arrest order issued by the quad committee of the House of Representa-tives for snubbing its inquiry into the operation of illegal POGOs.
Lawmakers are questioning the assets of the Roque couple after they noted an increase amounting to millions of pesos in just four years from 2014 to 2018.
Mrs. Roque is the signatory in the lease agreement between the Biancham Holdings and Chinese nation-als linked to the Bamban POGO who rented a house in Tuba, Benguet. Biancham Holdings is owned by the Roques.
As for the former presidential spokesman, Sandoval said: “Former spokesperson Harry Roque has no recent departure as per our records. Meron din po s’ya immigration lookout bulletin which was issued on August 6 (He is also the subject of an immigration lookout bulletin order which was issued on August 6).”
The ex-Cabinet official has been ordered arrested by the House for his refusal to submit documents that have been subpoenaed by the quad committee.
He is now the subject of a police manhunt after he went into hiding to avoid arrest.
PUBLIC HELP
PAOCC spokesman Winston Casio yesterday sought the help of the public in the campaign against PO-GOs in the country, saying law enforcers cannot accomplish this on their own.
“We need the help of the community because the community is the eyes and ears of our government and of our country,” Casio during the “Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon” public briefing.
Casio urged the public to report to authorities if they see large number of foreign nationals in their community who they believe are involved in illegal activities.
“At the end of the day, this has to be a whole-of-government fight because if this is left only to the PAOCC, PNP or NBI, we may not accomplish it since it’s (POGO) is a big problem,” he said.
PAOCC executive director Gilbert Cruz on Monday said around 100 POGO hubs are still operating despite the total POGO ban ordered by President Marcos Jr last July.
Casio admitted that a “good number” of legal POGOs have already gone underground “and we’re having difficulty catching up.”
Nevertheless, he said PAOCC is doing its best in running after these illegal POGOs, in coordination with other law enforcement agencies and local government units.
Casio also warned owners of apartments, condominiums, buildings and facilities against allowing their property to be used by POGOs.
“Please make sure that you do your due diligence because once we establish that you allowed your facili-ties to be used in such illegal activities, we are going to close (your property),” he said, adding that “we are going to file civil forfeiture (case) so the government can seize your property.”
To POGO the operators, Casio said: “Wherever you are, we are going to catch you.”
Also, Casio said that while there could be more POGO financiers on the loose, “so far we’re monitoring four as of now.”
“Most of them are Chinese and we got a few who are Malaysian-Chinese. We have leads, we’re monitor-ing them at present. We’re developing cases so we can apply for search warrants and mission orders so we can arrest them. In the next few days or weeks, maybe we can get all of them,” he said.
In a related development, Sandoval said more than 12,000 foreign POGO workers have voluntarily downgraded their visas.
The BI earlier set an October 15 deadline for foreign POGO workers to downgrade their working visas.
Visa downgrading allows foreign nationals to revert their status from a work visa to a temporary visitor visa, thereby enabling them to remain legally in the Philippines for 59 days while winding down their af-fairs.
“Sa huling tala natin nasa 12,000 na po ang nag-file for voluntary downgrading. Ngayon pong linggong ito, tomorrow po magsasara po tayo ng tally natin (Our latest tally showed that around 12,000 have already filed for voluntary downgrading. This week, tomorrow we will close the tally),” Sandoval said.
Sandoval said some of those who filed for voluntary downgrading have left the country.
She also said that majority of those who have applied for voluntary downgrading are Chinese nationals.
BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado has earlier said there will be no extensions for the visa downgrad-ing.
Meanwhile, Casio said they believe that the 11 Chinese arrested in Paracale, Camarines Sur for illegal mining last Sunday were mining for uranium.
Casio said engineers who evaluated the extraction technology used by the Chinese found out that these were not ordinary.
“They are not only meant to extract gold ore. There is possibility, they are after other minerals in Par-acale,” he said. “According to our report, there is uranium in that area in Paracale. This group is using a different technology. It’s possible that they are not only after gold but also uranium deposit.”
He also said they are looking into the involvement of a local government official in Paracale in the illegal mining of the arrested Chinese.
“They have a business partner. If I am not mistaken, a local politician in Paracale,” he said without giving a name.
Casio said the politician supposedly invited the Chinese as financiers, partners, technical experts and workers. — With Ashzel Hachero and Victor Reyes
