What’s your ‘poison ivy,’ something that can infect you if you don’t run from it?

A man allegedly posing as an official in the administration of President Marcos and six others allegedly involved in the sale of government posts and promotions were arrested in Quezon City, the National Bureau of Investigation announced yesterday.

Senators challenged the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) to name the former Cabinet official who allegedly facilitated the grant of gaming licenses to Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) so as not to cast doubt on all other former members of the Cabinet.

The bombshell revelation of Alejandro “Al” Tengco, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCor), may be likened to an improvised explosive device (IED) he triggered while he was still holding on to it. In a press statement he issued over the weekend, Tengco accused a certain former Cabinet official as allegedly “trying to intercede for POGOs,” or the Philippine Online Gaming Operators. 

Senator Win Gatchalian accused the National Telecommunications Commission (NTC) of “sleeping on the job” after thousands of SIM cards were found in raids of POGO hubs in Pasay, Bamban and Porac. The raiding teams from the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) tagged these supposedly POGO operations as hotbeds of illegal activities by foreign criminal syndicates victimizing people here and abroad. They give our country a bad international reputation.

Suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo could become stateless and lose all her properties in the Philippines after a National Bureau of Investigation exam showed her fingerprints are identical with those of Chinese national Guo Hua Ping.