MANILA, Philippines — Former presidential spokesperson Harry Roque liaised for a Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) hub in Pampanga that authorities raided twice last month for human trafficking, torture and scams, according to the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR) on Wednesday.
PAGCOR chief Alejandro Tengco said during the Senate committee on women and gender equality’s fourth hearing into POGO-related crimes that Roque appeared before his office in July 2023 to lobby for a solution to the financial issues of Lucky South 99, a POGO compound in Porac, Pampanga.
This revelation by Tengco follows his earlier promise to name the former Cabinet official under then-President Rodrigo Duterte who facilitated the issuance of licenses to illegal POGO hubs.
Philstar.com has reached out to Roque and will update this story with his response.
Tengco said that Roque was accompanied by a certain Cassandra Lee Ong, who the Presidential Anti Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) has tagged as a person of interest in illegal POGO hub cases.
Ong asked PAGCOR for help in paying Lucky South 99’s arrears, which, at the time, was pegged at no less than $500,000, Tengco said.
“Sabi nya, siya ay nagtiwala sakanilang authorized representative na si Dennis Cunanan. ‘Yun daw na anim na buwan na dapat ibayad nilang buwis sa PAGCOR, binibigay nya kay Cunanan para ibayad sa PAGCOR,” Tengco said.
(She said she trusted their authorized representative, Dennis Cunanan. She gave him the six months’ worth of taxes that should have been paid to PAGCOR for him to pay on their behalf.)
“Bukod sa mga buwanang dapat bayaran sa PAGCOR, ang sabi ni Binibining Cassandra Lee Ong, may sinisingil na additional fees na fines and penalties si Ginoong Dennis Cunanan kay Cassandra,” he explained.
(In addition to the monthly payments due to PAGCOR, Ms. Cassandra Lee Ong mentioned that Mr. Dennis Cunanan was also charging her additional fees for fines and penalties.)
The PAGCOR chief said that Ong claimed that this was the reason why they were surprised to learn from PAGCOR that they had six months’ worth of unpaid taxes.
“Sabi ko sakanya, ano ba ang inyong pakay dito? Nakikiusap sila kung pwedeng bigyan sila ng pagkakataon mabayaran yung arrears,” Tengco said.
“Habang nagpupulong kami noon, meron nang nagbabayad ng portion ng $500,000,” he added.
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