Philippine senate to hold final hearing on offshore gaming operators

The Senate’s final hearing will focus on alleged links between offshore gaming operators and Chinese espionage.

The Philippines.- Senator Risa Hontiveros has announced that the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, which she chairs, is to hold its final hearing on alleged criminal activities and irregularities linked to offshore gaming operators on November 26.

Hontiveros said the 16th and last hearing will focus on reportedly spying activities by the Chinese government. “We have gathered new information, especially on China having spies here in the Philippines through offshore gaming operators,” Hontiveros said. She cited testimony from She Zhijiang, who claimed both he and Alice Guo, the suspended mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, were involved in espionage.

“In the next hearing, we will present the legislative reforms that need to be pushed here in the Senate due to a lot of irregularities and policy gaps that we have seen in the spread of POGO and its related crimes,” Hontiveros added.

Previous hearings focused on illegal offshore gaming operations in Pasay, Clark, Porac, and Bamban, Tarlac, where hubs for scamming and hacking were uncovered. The Senate has also scrutinised the role of local officials accused of aiding offshore gaming operators in disguising illegal activities as legitimate businesses.

Guo was arrested in Tangerang City, Jakarta, in September after a search. She had left the Philippines on July 17. Senate inquiries uncovered bank dealings involving companies owned by Guo totalling hundreds of millions of pesos, which facilitated the establishment of an offshore gaming operator in Bamban. The Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said that Guo could face prison sentences totalling 560 years if found guilty of money laundering charges.

See also: No politicians or police helped Alice Guo leave the Philippines, senator says