Senate urged not to make POGO probe a witch hunt
PHILIPPINE senators should ensure they will not resort to personal attacks or get side-tracked in their probe of a Tarlac mayor accused of being a Chinese spy entangled in Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO), according to an academic and activist, who cited the need for the investigation to result in laws addressing crimes.
“Senate should focus on the issues that aid legislation,” Teresita Ang-See, founding president of Filipino-Chinese organization Kaisa Para Sa Kaunlaran, said in a statement on Monday “This kind of witch hunt and personal attacks are way below decency and reflects badly on the dignity of the Senate.”
Last week, Senators grilled Bamban Mayor Alice L. Guo about her background and history due to her alleged links to crimes committed by POGO outfits.
Senator Jose “Jinggoy” P. Estrada told a Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality that he had received “very reliable information” on Ms. Guo’s alleged live-in partner running a POGO company in Bamban Tarlac, which the mayor denied outright.
Ms. Ang-See said the investigation has gotten sidetracked from POGOs to Ms. Guo’s personal life and her luxurious lifestyle.
“I am not against the Senate investigating Guo,” she said. “However, something which originated from concerns about POGO got sidetracked and had become ridiculous zarzuela and the POGO investigation disappeared from the scene.”
In a statement on Monday, Senator Ana Theresia N. Hontiveros-Baraquel said senators and officials from government agencies will hold a closed-door executive session before the next hearing on POGOs to discuss other leads on the outfits being linked to government surveillance.
“This is not a witch hunt. This is not about politics,” she said. “This is about national security, criminal activities, accountability in public service, the rights and welfare of women and children, and the structural failure of our system to regulate POGO as a business model.”
Malacañang last month ordered the Anti-Money Laundering Council to freeze the assets of a POGO hub in Tarlac.
A total of 868 POGO workers were rescued during a March 13 raid after the company was linked to human trafficking and torture crimes.
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission seized about P6 million in cash and passports in 11 vaults found in the POGO hub. Authorities also seized at least 60. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
