MANILA, Philippines — Following the suspension of Mayor Alice Guo by the Office of the Ombudsman, the entire police force of Bamban, Tarlac was sacked on Monday amid an investigation into the illegal activities of a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hub in the municipality.
All 49 officers of the Bamban police station were relieved from their posts. They were transferred to the regional personnel holding and administrative unit of the Central Luzon police, according to Philippine National Police (PNP) spokesperson Col. Jean Fajardo.
The sacked police officers were replaced by personnel of the provincial mobile force company, Tarlac City police and municipal police stations in Tarlac.
Fajardo said Central Luzon police director Brig. Gen. Jose Hidalgo Jr. led the turnover rites at the Bamban police on Monday.
The relieved police officers are being investigated to determine if they committed lapses after failing to monitor the reported criminal activities in the POGO facility, Fajardo said.
They will also undergo a focused reformation and reorientation seminar at the PNP Training Service Annex School in Subic, she said.
Fajardo said police officers who are handling cases, especially those involving illegal drugs, are allowed to attend court hearings even if they were relieved.
Apart from lapses, Fajardo said they also want to find out if the police officers received favors from Guo in exchange for turning a blind eye on the POGO’s criminal activities.
“We have to be clear on this. Although we get support from local government units, the performance of our duty should not be compromised,” she said.
Tax evasion
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) is eyeing to file charges of tax evasion and violation of securities laws against Guo.
The cases are separate from those filed by the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG) against Guo in relation to the POGO hub raid in Bamban in March.
Guo was suspended by the ombudsman following a complaint from the DILG that she issued a business permit to Zun Yuan Technology despite it having an expired license.
According to PAOCC spokesman Winston Romeo Casio, other local officials of Bamban may be included in the cases.
“As far as we are concerned, we have found administrative violations,” he said.
On tax evasion charges, Casio said they have yet to compute the amount involved, but he believes it would be significant, taking note of Guo’s lavish lifestyle.
The charges will also include the years when Guo was involved with the POGO firm when she was still a private citizen.
The alleged violation of the Securities Regulation Code involves Guo’s reported connections with the illegally operating firm, Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc. which was raided by authorities in Bamban last year, and the Baofu Land Development Inc.
Casio said the PAOCC welcomed the preventive suspension issued against Guo.
Last March, authorities raided a 10-hectare compound operated by Zun Yuan, which led to the rescue of around 800 alleged victims of human trafficking and torture.
Guo was subjected to a probe after an electric meter of Zun Yuan was found to be under her name. Authorities also discovered a vehicle inside the POGO facility registered under the mayor’s name.
Pagcor hits Guo’s lawyer
The Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR)maintained that the agency has nothing to do with the issuance of local business permits and licenses.
“We are also not responsible for the inspection of buildings that are not under our jurisdiction. We issue licenses based on our own guidelines and the documents submitted by applicants,” Pagcor said in a statement.
“Pagcor’s regulations are clear cut. If our licensees are found violating the terms of their licenses, whether these are provisional licenses or regular licenses, they are fined and penalized and, in the most serious cases, the licenses are revoked,” the state gaming regulator added.
Pagcor issued the statement after Guo’s lawyer, Nicole Rose Margaret Jamilla, tried to pass the blame on the government agency the reasons for the criminal cases filed by the DILG against her client.
“It is only under the present Pagcor administration that the real anomalies in the former POGO activities have been exposed,” Pagcor said.
Ten raids against POGOs have been successfully conducted, leading to exposure of criminal activities being perpetrated by some of the licensees, the agency said.
Birth registration law
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada has filed a bill seeking to penalize false statements in late registration of births following the Senate probe on Guo’s “shady” Filipino background.
Estrada filed a proposed Delayed Registration of Birth Act amid findings during the Senate hearings that Guo proclaimed herself a Filipino, with a Filipino housemaid as her biological mother when her mother is actually Chinese.
“This bill will put more teeth in the law, which has gaps about late registration of births. I hope this will serve as a deterrent,” he said.
According to Estrada, the existing law on civil registry was dated 1930 and lacked guidelines on delayed birth registration, which is allowed 30 days after birth.
The bill mandates the local civil registry to do due diligence in evaluating documents submitted by parents and in verifying the information in the barangay where the late registrant lives.
In the case where one parent is a foreign national, the parents should submit pertinent documents such as marriage certificate, passports and the parents’ own birth records.
Parents should give a reason why their child, whether minor or of legal age, was registered beyond the 30-day period after birth.
Making false statements in the application would be penalized with up to 12 years in prison and a fine of up to P250,000, according to Estrada’s bill.
A public official violating the proposed law will be dismissed and perpetually barred from public service.
Estrada said there is a need to fine tune the 1930 civil registry law because foreign nationals abused the gaps and registered late with the Philippine Statistics Authority despite not being of any Filipino descent.
Guo was accused of benefiting from this loophole because she got her birth certificate at 17 years old and used her supposed Filipino citizenship to build her business in Bamban and get elected as mayor. — Daphne Galvez, Marc Jayson Cayabyab