Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian expressed concern over the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) company based in Bamban, Tarlac after intelligence agencies confirmed that it's already deeply rooted there, having influence over politicians, and even law enforcement agencies.
"Malalim, ibig sabihin yung kanilang impluwensya umaabot na sa mga pulitiko, umaabot na sa mga enforcement agencies tulad ng kapulisan, Bureau of Immigration, at pangatlo (By deep, it means that they have influence over politicians and law enforcement agencies such as the police and the Bureau of Immigration)," Gatchalian said.
"Meron silang binanggit doon na pati yung mga local na criminal syndicates ay nakakasama na nila (They mentioned there that even local syndicates are involved)," he added.
He disclosed this a day just after the Senate Committee on Women and Children held an executive session to tackle Bamban Mayor Alice Guo's alleged ties to POGOs.
The executive session was attended by officials from the Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking (IACAT), the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG), Office of the Solicitor General (OSG), Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor), Intelligence Services of the Armed Forces of the Philippines (AFP), National Security Council (NSC), Department of Information and Communications Technology (DICT), Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA), Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC), Bureau of Immigration (BI), National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), and Civil Aviation Authority of the Philippines (CAAP).
Gatchalian initially bared Guo’s alleged ties to Zuan Yuan Technology Inc. and Hong Sheng and said it is imperative to thoroughly investigate the possible links between Guo and these POGO firms.
Earlier, authorities raided the Baofu compound where the POGO firm Zun Yuan Technology Inc. is located due to suspicious activities following complaints of human trafficking and serious detention.
"Nakaktakot to dahil pera ng mga foreign criminal syndicates pumupunta na dito, pinopondohan nila yung local criminal syndicates kaya nagsasanib pwersa na itong mga masasamang elemento (This is alarming because the money of foreign criminal syndicates is being used to fund local criminal groups and these two have joined forces)," he said.
He mentioned that it was Guo who opened the doors for criminal syndicates to get involved.
"(The) only common link between the criminal syndicates and Bamban is Alice Guo...siya naging tulay (she served as the bridge) between these criminal syndicates and Bamban,"
Other than Guo, Gatchalian said that there are other politicians involved with the POGO, according to the intelligence agencies yet their participation was not elaborated.
Gatchalian echoed Sen. Risa Hontiveros' call for the NSC to elevate the matter to the President since it's already becoming a national security threat.
"Ang kinakatakutan ko, baka umabot sa punto na hindi na natin makokontrol itong mga ito, sila na ang kokontrol sa gobyerno natin kasi may mga tao na silang binabayaran (What I'm afraid of is if this reaches a point that we can no longer control this, and they will be ones managing our government because they are people under their payroll)," he added.