{"id":777022458,"date":"2025-01-30T08:51:19","date_gmt":"2025-01-30T11:51:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777022458"},"modified":"2026-04-22T02:17:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T05:17:12","slug":"philippine-senators-approve-citizenship-application-allegedly-linked-to-offshore-gaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-senators-approve-citizenship-application-allegedly-linked-to-offshore-gaming","title":{"rendered":"Philippine senators approve citizenship application allegedly linked to offshore gaming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said Li Duan Wang had complied with all legal requirements.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

The Philippines.- Philippine senators have granted Filipino citizenship to the Chinese entrepreneur Li Duan Wang, also known as Mark Ong, despite allegations<\/a>\u00a0<\/strong>that Wang was liked to an offshore gaming operator hub in Porac, Pampanga. Nineteen senators, including senator Sherwin Gatchalian<\/strong>, voted in favour of approving the application. Rita Hontiveros was the only senator who voted against.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In justifying his decision, Gatchalian said: “What\u2019s important here is that there were no derogatory reports, no negative reports about him. Second, he completed all the necessary legal requirements.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He added: “They went beyond the minimum requirements. They asked for requirements from the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, the National Security Council. They also requested information from the Interpol (International Criminal Police Organisation). So, this is beyond the requirements because of the presence of these aspects.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Senator Joseph Victor Ejercito<\/strong>, said: \u201cBefore I signed, I checked with (Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission) chief Gilbert Cruz, who said that Mark Ong (Wang’s Filipino name) is a long-time junket operator for casinos<\/strong>, not an offshore gaming operator. That is the information they have.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Ejercito added: \u201cIf he was here for just a few years, then he might really be part of an offshore gaming operator that entered during its peak. But he has been residing in Manila for several years. Mark Ong is also a long-time member of the Association of Fire Volunteer Chiefs of the Philippines, he is an active fire brigade volunteer according to [my] research.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

See also:<\/strong> Office vacancies in Metro Manila rise after offshore gaming ban<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said Li Duan Wang had complied with all legal requirements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":21187,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"Philippine senators have granted citizenship to Chinese entrepreneur Li Duan Wang (Mark Ong), despite alleged links to an offshore gaming operator (OGO) hub. Senators cited compliance with legal requirements and extensive due diligence by national security agencies, clarifying Wang's role as a long-time casino junket operator rather than an OGO affiliate.","focusai_entities":"Li Duan Wang, Mark Ong, Sherwin Gatchalian, Rita Hontiveros, Joseph Victor Ejercito, Gilbert Cruz, National Intelligence Coordinating Agency, National Security Council, Interpol (International Criminal Police Organisation), Presidential Anti-Organised Crime Commission, Association of Fire Volunteer Chiefs of the Philippines","focusai_location":"Philippines, Porac, Pampanga, Manila, Metro Manila","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.8), regulator (0.9), compliance_legal (0.9), operator_casino (0.8), payments_fraud_aml (0.7), investor_analyst (0.85), supplier_vendor (0.75), journalist_researcher (0.95)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"Impact on Foreign Investment?","query":"What are the long-term implications of this citizenship grant for foreign investment in the Philippine gaming sector, particularly concerning the distinction between regulated casino junkets and the phased-out OGO industry?"},{"label":"Regulatory Scrutiny Influence?","query":"How will this decision influence the ongoing regulatory scrutiny and public perception of individuals associated with the broader iGaming ecosystem in the Philippines, especially given past OGO controversies?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[439,16333],"tags":[4138],"class_list":["post-777022458","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legal-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-online-gambling"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777022458","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/176"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=777022458"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777022458\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777022475,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777022458\/revisions\/777022475"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/21187"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777022458"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777022458"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777022458"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}