{"id":777025173,"date":"2025-04-11T04:28:55","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T07:28:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/?p=777025173"},"modified":"2026-04-21T23:57:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T02:57:41","slug":"philippine-government-vetoes-citizenship-application-allegedly-linked-to-offshore-gaming","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-government-vetoes-citizenship-application-allegedly-linked-to-offshore-gaming","title":{"rendered":"Philippine government vetoes citizenship application allegedly linked to offshore gaming"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p>President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr said granting citizenship to Li Duan Wang could pose a &#8220;clear and present danger&#8221;.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<!--more-->\n\n\n\n<p>The Philippines.- President<strong> Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr <\/strong>has vetoed a legislative measure that granted <a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-senators-approve-citizenship-application-allegedly-linked-to-offshore-gaming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Filipino citizenship<\/a> to the Chinese entrepreneur<strong> Li Duan Wang<\/strong>, also known as Mark Ong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>A statement read by <strong>Claire Castro<\/strong>, undersecretary of the presidential communications office, during a press conference, said: &#8220;I am unable to blindly ignore the alarming and revealing warnings raised by our relevant national agencies that find the subject grantee&#8217;s character and influence to be full of ominous and dire consequences, if not of a clear and present danger.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Castro added: &#8220;The President also said that when we grant Filipino citizenship, we are giving more than just legal rights. We are opening up the full honour of our history, our race, and our heritage.&#8221;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-embed aligncenter is-type-video is-provider-youtube wp-block-embed-youtube wp-embed-aspect-16-9 wp-has-aspect-ratio\"><div class=\"wp-block-embed__wrapper\">\n<iframe title=\"PCO Press Briefing with MPC 04\/11\/2025\" width=\"625\" height=\"352\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/Time78mn3ng?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe>\n<\/div><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Duan Wang had been accused of links to <strong>Duanren Wu<\/strong>, the alleged mastermind of\u00a0an offshore gaming operator hub in Porac, Pampanga. Wang is also said to runs the 9 Dynasty junket group, which has links to Rivendell, an offshore gaming operation in Pasay tied to illegal activities. Wang did not include this information in his citizenship application.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Senator\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-senator-calls-for-rejection-of-citizenship-application-for-alleged-links-to-offshore-gaming\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Risa Hontiveros<\/a><strong> <\/strong>previously claimed that Wang represented himself as a Filipino citizen in the Articles of Incorporation and By-Laws of the company Avia International Club, which he didn\u2019t disclose in his naturalisation application. <\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\">Philippine senator renews call for swift passage of anti-offshore gaming bill<\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Senator\u00a0<strong>Risa Hontiveros\u00a0<\/strong>has called for the quick passing of an anti-offshore gaming bill. A consolidation of five similar bills, the proposal aims to institutionalise\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/president-marcos-issues-executive-order-banning-offshore-gambling-operators-in-the-philippines\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">the ban on offshore gaming operations<\/a>\u00a0ordered by\u00a0<strong>President\u00a0Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr.\u00a0<\/strong>last November.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Hontiveros&nbsp;emphasised the need for a regional approach to crack down on transnational scam operations linked to illegal activities. In an interview with the Philippine News Agency, Hontiveros said that as the Philippines closes offshore gaming operator hubs, many were relocating to nearby countries like Cambodia and Myanmar, where scams are already happening.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>See also: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/philippine-ggr-sets-new-record-in-2024\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\">Philippine GGR set new record in 2024<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr said granting citizenship to Li Duan Wang could pose a &#8220;clear and present danger&#8221;.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":176,"featured_media":777025180,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"is_press_release":false,"is_interview":false,"is_opinion":false,"focusai_summary":"President Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr. vetoed the citizenship grant for Chinese entrepreneur Li Duan Wang, citing \"clear and present danger\" due to his alleged links to illegal offshore gaming operations and undisclosed business interests. Concurrently, Senator Risa Hontiveros is pushing for legislation to institutionalize the ban on offshore gaming operators (OGLs) in the Philippines, highlighting the regional challenge of transnational scam operations as OGLs relocate to neighboring countries.","focusai_entities":"Ferdinand R. Marcos Jr., Li Duan Wang, Mark Ong, Claire Castro, Duanren Wu, 9 Dynasty, Rivendell, Avia International Club, Risa Hontiveros, Philippine News Agency","focusai_location":"Philippines, Porac, Pampanga, Pasay, Cambodia, Myanmar","focusai_target_profile":"ceo_executive (0.9), regulator (1.0), compliance_legal (1.0), operator_casino (0.9), payments_fraud_aml (1.0), investor_analyst (0.9), supplier_vendor (0.8), journalist_researcher (1.0)","focusai_suggestions":[{"label":"OGL Ban Economic Impact","query":"What are the projected economic impacts, including potential revenue displacement and job losses, for the Philippines following the institutionalization of a nationwide ban on offshore gaming operations?"},{"label":"Regional Regulatory Strategy","query":"How does the Philippine government plan to collaborate with regional counterparts to mitigate the transnational relocation of illicit offshore gaming operations to countries like Cambodia and Myanmar?"}],"footnotes":""},"categories":[154,16333],"tags":[29],"class_list":["post-777025173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-legislation-news","category-south-east-asia-news","tag-casino"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025173","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=777025173"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025173\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":777025219,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/777025173\/revisions\/777025219"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/777025180"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=777025173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=777025173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/focusgn.com\/asia-pacific\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=777025173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}