Rundown: What was revealed in House quadcom hearing on POGOs

MANILA, Philippines — During the fourth joint public hearing on Wednesday, September 4, members of the House quad committee continued their probe into the drug-related extrajudicial killings and the illegal operations of Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) under former President Rodrigo Duterte’s administration. 

Lawmakers interrogated three resource persons, each revealing key details to the ongoing investigations. Here is a rundown of what were disclosed during the hearing.  

Corrections Senior Superintendent Gerardo Padilla

Padilla served as a warden at the Davao Prison and Penal Farm from 2015 to 2018. As the warden, he confirmed with lawmakers that he is in charge of supervising and managing all that goes on in the penal colony. 

When he was contacted by retired police lieutenant colonel Royina Garma, Padilla said that he understood Garma’s order as “eliminating the three Chinese nationals.” He also said that he believes Garma to be the brains of the operation.

RELATED: Rodrigo Duterte ordered 2016 killings of alleged Chinese drug lords — witnesses

The Chinese Nationals were killed by two detainees, Fernando Magdadaro and Leopoldo Untalan Tan Jr., who were transferred to the same cell in August 2016.    

Padilla, however, maintained that he objected to the transfers of these three Chinese nationals and the two inmates in Davao Prison. 

Due to the limited information he was sharing with the quadcom, Padilla was granted the executive session he requested.   

Katherine Cassandra 'Cassy' Li Ong

Ong is an incorporator, sharing 58% of the real estate firm Whirlwind Corp., who served as the personal translator of Whirlwind executive Duanren Wu. She is also the goddaughter of Wu, whom she said is her mother’s best friend. 

Ong denied her involvement in the operations of Lucky South 99, a formerly registered POGO in Porac, Pampanga. However, documents on the company’s account payments listed her as its authorized representative for settling its account. She said that the cash used came from the assistant of Cheng, the POGO’s owner.

Ong confirmed to lawmakers that Whirlwind and Lucky South 99 had the same owners before they sold the latter firm in 2023. 

Ong first said that she gave $500,000 USD, in parts, to convicted government official Dennis Cunanan to facilitate the payment of Lucky South 99’s POGO license. 

However, she later denied this by saying she was only a witness to the payment to Cunanan. When lawmakers asked Cunanan whether Ong was merely a witness, he said no.

Ong said she knows Rainer Tiu, but not personally. When first asked by lawmakers, she preferred not to answer. 

Due to her low blood sugar, the House physician Jose Luis Bautista said Ong is unable to continue her testimony at the hearing. He recommended temporarily excusing Ong from the hearing after her blood pressure dropped to 80/40. 

Alberto Rodulfo 'AR' De La Serna 

De La Serna served as the Executive Assistant III for former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque. Now, he said that he is paid a monthly salary of P20,000 and serves as his “personal alalay” or personal assistant. 

This is a downgrade from the salary he previously had which ranges from P37,000 to P52,000, and yet he chooses to remain employed under Roque.  

He confirmed that he had a joint bank account with former presidential spokesperson Roque, which he said was used for elections. The highest deposit made to the account, as far as De La Serna could recall, was about P3 million.

The largest amount he was able to withdraw from the account was around P1.2 to P1.8 million. He would withdraw once a month for the payroll of Roque’s election staff.

The quadcom has already issued a show cause order to compel Roque to attend the next public hearing and submit the requested documents. 

The joint committee is composed of the Committee on Dangerous Drugs, Committee on Public Accounts, Committee on Public Order and Safety, and Committee on Human Rights.