CASSANDRA ONG FACES SENATORS: Katherine Cassandra Li Ong makes her first appearance at a public hearing conducted by the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality on the alleged illegal activities of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) hubs in Pampanga and Tarlac Tuesday, September 17, 2024. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
MANILA, Philippines — Inconsistencies in the birth certificate of Cassandra Ong, the alleged business partner of dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo, were raised on Tuesday at a Senate probe.
At a Senate panel on women’s hearing, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada questioned Ong’s birth address, presence of a traditional childbirth assistant, marriage record of Ong’s parents, and her late birth registration as indicated in her birth certificate.
Estrada then went to bare the details of Ong’s birth certificate, starting with her birth address. According to her birth certificate, she was born in San Juan City, Manila.
“Base sa record ng birth certificate mo, pinanganak ka nga sa San Juan at kasalukuyang mayor ako noon ng San, Juan. Pinanganak ka through hilot by a certain Rosario Mendez at ang address na nakalagay ay 347 P. Mendoza St., San Juan,” Estrada said.
(Based on the record of your birth certificate, you were born in San Juan and I was currently the mayor at that time. You were born through a traditional childbirth assistant by a certain Rosario Mendez and the address indicated is 347 P. Mendoza St., San Juan.)
He proceeded to ask Ong if she still remembers what barangay her birth street is, to which she answered no.
Estrada then said that his employees inquired about her house number and found out that it was non-existent.
“Ngayon, naging two digits na lang ang house number pero ginagamit pa rin ng mga residente ang three digits house number sa P. Mendoza Street at wala ring nakakakilala na sinasabing manghihilot na nagngangalang Rosario Mendez,” Estrada added.
(Now, there are only two-digit house numbers but residents still use three-digit house numbers in P. Mendoza Street and no one knows a certain Rosario Mendez.)
READ: Cassandra Ong: Alice Guo neither my friend nor business partner
The senator then noted that the birth address or house number indicated in the birth certificate is non-existent.
“Madam Chair, it seems that the entries in the birth certificate of Cassie Ong is quite questionable. Walang manghihilot, walang Rosario Mendez, at wala rin ‘yong address na nakalagay sa birth certificate (No traditional childbirth assistant, no Rosario Mendez, and the address indicated in the birth certificate is non-existent),” he emphasized.
“At isa pa, no’ng mayor ako ng San Juan, libre panganganak doon. Di kami gumagamit ng manghihilot. Libre panganganak sa health center,” he added.
(One more thing, when I was a mayor in San Juan, childbirth was free. We did not use any traditional childbirth assistance. Childbirth was free in the health center.)
Senator Risa Hontiveros, chairperson of the panel, then asked an official from the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA) to check the irregularities and confirm the inconsistencies raised by Estrada.
Further, Estrada proceeded to divulge information from Ong’s parents. The senator raised that Ying Xia Li, the alleged mother of Ong, has no record of birth certificate in the PSA database while there is also a “negative” record of marriage of her alleged mother and Richard Ong Chao Hong, her alleged father.
This information was confirmed by PSA Director for Legal Service Atty. Eliezer Ambatali.
“That’s confirmed, Your Honor, because the parent, the mother is a Chinese so hindi siya pinanganak dito sa Pinas and the father was allegedly born as Chinese but parang mayroong pinapakita in the congress, in the House of Representatives that the father was naturalized kaya ‘yon ‘yong nakalagay sa COLB [certificate of live birth] ni Ms. Cassie Li Ong,” Ambatali said.
(That’s confirmed, Your Honor, because the parent, the mother is a Chinese so she was not born in the Philippines and the father was allegedly born as Chinese but there was something shown in the Congress, in the House of Representatives, that her father was naturalized that’s why it was indicated in the COLB of Ms. Cassie Ong.)
Estrada also raised the issue of Ong’s late birth registration as she was born on May 23, 2000 but her birth was registered on May 16, 2001.
READ: Escudero: Pogo investigations show ‘negligence’ of gov’t agencies
“This is another case of questionable birth certificate issued through late registration and there’s no basis for the issuance of Cassie Ong’s birth certificate. This should be investigated. This should be immediately canceled if there are findings,” Estrada stressed.
“This has to be investigated thoroughly. ‘Di pwedeng laging Chinese na nandito, late registration lahat (It can’t be that Chinese nationals living here have late [birth] registrations),” he added.
Ambatali then said that PSA has launched a fact-finding investigation on Ong’s case.
Cassandra Ong, Guo’s alleged business partner, is an incorporator of Whirlwind Corporation that leased land to Lucky South 99, a raided Pogo (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator) in Porac, Pampanga.
Ong together with Shiela Guo, who was first identified as Alice’s sister, were arrested by the Indonesian officials on August 22 and were brought back to the country on the same day. Ong was detained at the House for being cited for contempt last August 16 after skipping the quad committee hearings.