PAOCC names POGO ‘boss of all bosses’

MANILA, Philippines — The “boss of all bosses” of illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) has been identified as a Chinese national with five passports, who is now reportedly in Hong Kong, the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) said yesterday.

In a Viber message, PAOCC executive director Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz said that based on his latest information Huang Zhiyang fled Taiwan yesterday from Hong Kong using a Cyprus passport.

Huang is believed to be connected to the raided POGO hubs in Bamban, Tarlac and in Porac, Pampanga, which were raided earlier this year after authorities received reports that they were being used for human trafficking and other criminal activities.

In an interview over dzBB, Cruz did not confirm if Huang was the same person who assisted dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo flee the country.

Cruz said there were personalities who tried to approach him apparently to intercede for Guo even before the operation in Bamban was carried out.

Asked if there was an attempt to bribe him so they would go easy on Guo, Cruz said: “Innuendos, like street talk. But of course they know me, but I can sense they had been sent to get me to talk,” he said.

The PAOCC, meanwhile, is seeking another court warrant to search the Lucky South 99 compound in Porac for the remains of foreigners killed inside the POGO hub.

“We have been receiving reports that the bodies have been allegedly buried in the raided compound,” PAOCC spokesman Winston John Casio said in a statement to reporters.

Witnesses have pointed to several locations in the compound as possible burial grounds.

As crackdown on POGOs continues, state prosecutors have recommended the filing of charges against two Chinese nationals allegedly involved in criminal activities in the Porac POGO hub.

In a 14-page resolution, a panel of prosecutors from the Department of Justice (DOJ) said there is prima facie evidence to indict Jiang Shi Guang for qualified trafficking and Qin Ren Guo for kidnapping.

Jiang will face charges for qualified human trafficking while Qin has been indicted for kidnapping for ransom.

The DOJ, however, dismissed the kidnapping and serious illegal detention complaint against Jiang and the trafficking in persons, robbery, and serious physical injuries against Qin “for want of prima facie evidence with reasonable certainty of conviction.”

The department said the dismissal of the complaints is without prejudice to refiling if new evidence against the two are found. Two Chinese nationals filed the complaint against Jiang and Qin in July. – Marc Jayson Cayabyab, Daphne Galvez