NBI raids alleged POGO-owned clinic

MANILA, Philippines — The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) raided on Saturday a clinic allegedly owned by a Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) firm in San Isidro, Makati.

Chinese medicines not registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) were found at the clinic, according to NBI Director Jaime Santiago.

“We requested a copy from the FDA and the supply of the medicines is on the second floor. Unfortunately, the court only allowed us to search the first floor,” Santiago said.

The clinic would be cordoned off until today when the FDA would use its visitorial power and search the second floor, he added.

The POGO that allegedly owns the clinic is located in Pampanga, according to the NBI-Laguna District Office and NBI-Calabarzon.

At least six people escaped from the clinic during the raid and two others jumped from the second floor.

Authorities failed to apprehend the fleeing Chinese.

Those who were caught would be turned over to the Bureau of Immigration to determine their status, Santiago said.

Two Filipino doctors purportedly working at the clinic would be investigated for their roles in operating an unlicensed facility, he added.

The clinic was not registered with the FDA and the Department of Health, according to NBI-Laguna District Office chief Edong Ramos.

“We were able to seize their permits, which listed the establishment as a drugstore. However, they were operating as a hospital,” he said.

Ramos expressed concern about the nature of treatments being provided, as the clinic primarily catered to Chinese nationals.

“We do not know if they are victims of torture, criminality, or what diseases are being treated here,” he said.

The NBI plans to charge suspects with violations of the FDA law and the Philippine Medical Act.

Firing range, tunnel

In Porac, Pampanga, authorities on Saturday discovered a clandestine indoor firing range and an underground tunnel inside an exclusive resort reportedly used by Chinese nationals running POGOs here and in Bamban, Tarlac.

Two Filipino incorporators of Whirlwind, Daniel Salcedo Jr. and Chona Alejandre, were found inside the two-hectare compound in Barangay Señora, presenting themselves as “mere employees.”

Whirlwind leases a 10-hectare property to Lucky South 99, which was raided twice by authorities in early June for human trafficking, torture, prostitution and scams.

Names of the resort’s alleged maintenance workers appeared together with “Bamban employees” in payrolls seen by investigators.

Executive Judge Robert Alexander Malig of the Regional Trial Court Third Judicial Region issued the search warrant against Katherine Cassandra Li Ong, Gheric Pagcu Manaloto and persons under their employ in three mansions in Barangay Señora for violating the anti-trafficking law.

A portrait of Ong, alleged girlfriend of the brother of suspended Mayor Alice Guo of Bamban, Tarlac, is displayed in one of the bedrooms.

A tunnel leads to a two-bedroom safehouse, said provincial board member Ananias Canlas Jr.

Certificates of employment signed by a certain Cassy Li were also recovered. — Ric Sapnu