CEBU CITY – The ex-mayor of this city hinted on Thursday, September 19, that the former Presidential Assistant for the Visayas (OPAV) had a hand in the establishment of Philippine Offshore Gambling Operators (POGO) in Cebu.
Osmeña
In a quad-committee hearing at the House of Representatives, former Cebu City Mayor Tomas Osmeña narrated that Michael Lloyd Dino could be involved in the establishment of POGOs in Cebu.
“He’s closely associated with other people I fear who are associated with these POGO activities,” Osmeña told lawmakers.
Osmeña was invited by the quad-committee headed by Surigao del Norte Rep. Robert Ace Barbers to shed light on the extrajudicial killings (EJKs) and POGO activities in Cebu.
Osmeña said he is “more than happy” to provide more documents and information on EJKs in Cebu.
Reporters sought Dino’s comment on Osmeña’s pronouncement but his camp begged off from issuing any statement.
Dino served as chief of OPAV during the Duterte administration. He and Osmeña are not in good terms.
Osmeña recalled a raid on a POGO hub in a residential condominium in Lapu-Lapu City in May 2019.
The former mayor surmised that Dino may have intervened after the raid was conducted.
“You know, when you talk about POGOs, I cannot give you definite information about what I can only give you basically what I suspect sometime in May in 2019. There was a raid in Megaworld in Mactan Island, which is outside Cebu City,” said Osmeña.
“This unusual thing about this raid was that after one week, the CIDG (Criminal Investigation and Detection Group) that raided it, who was (led by) a very new commander from Metro Manila, was suspended,” he added.
Osmeña was referring to the raid led by Police Col. Lito Patay, former chief of CIDG-Central Visayas, against a Pogo hub called Xin Huang Jin Chen Co. Ltd. Inc. (XHJC).
Patay was reassigned to the CIDG Central Office in Camp Crame, Quezon City two weeks after the raid.
He was named Davao City Police Office chief in July. However, Patay was relieved after a few hours.
Osmeña also brought up several properties that Dino owns.
“There is also a very big development in Cebu City today. Billions of spaces are being spent in multi, high-rise buildings and nobody seems to be aware of what’s going on. And it is owned allegedly by someone who’s very influential with the Duterte administration, which is Michael Dino,” he added.