Senior Deputy Speaker and Pampanga 3rd District Rep. Aurelio Gonzales Jr. delivers Speaker Martin Romualdez’s speech in this file photo taken in Zambales on May 24, 2024. (Photo screengrab from House of Representatives livestream)
MANILA, Philippines — A lawmaker appealed on Sunday to Whirlwind Corporation stakeholder Cassandra Ong and dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo to bare the truth behind the operation of illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos) hubs in Tarlac and Pampanga.
House Senior Deputy Speaker Aurelio Gonzales Jr. made the appeal in a statement “for the sake of the country.”
READ: Cassandra Ong excused from quad-comm hearing as BP fell to 80/40
“Alice Guo and Cassandra Ong are claiming they are Filipinos. If this is true, they owe it to our country to speak up and reveal all they know about these underground Pogos that flourished during the past administration,” Gonzales said in a statement.
The former mayor faces charges of qualified human trafficking and money laundering. She is also wanted by the Senate for failing to attend its hearings. Guo was arrested by authorities in Indonesia and was repatriated to the Philippines on September 6.
She is expected to attend the Senate panel on women’s probe on her alleged ties to Pogo on September 9.
Meanwhile, Ong is under the lower chamber’s detention and has testified before the quad-committee looking into illegal Pogos, dangerous drugs, and extrajudicial killings committed during the previous administration’s brutal war on drugs.
Citing what happened during the hearing, Gonzales said that Ong’s blood pressure became unstable, prompting the lower chamber’s medical staff to bring her to the hospital.
“Ong must be under a lot of pressure from those behind illegal Pogos. A person who is telling the truth is usually relieved of pressure, stress, and anxiety. The truth sets him or her free. This was not the case with Miss Ong. She must be keeping a lot of things from us,” he said.
“Bakit magiging unstable ang blood pressure mo kung ikaw ay nagsasabi ng totoo?” Gonzales asked.
(Why would your blood pressure be unstable if you’re telling the truth.)
In the previous hearing, Ong claimed to hold a 58-percent stake in the corporation that owns the Porac property — where 46 buildings, a mansion, and other structures were built for a Pogo operator also known as the Lucky South 99.
Although she admitted to being the representative of the Pogo hub, she denied involvement in its operations.