The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission said it has leads on who were possibly behind the alleged “leak” of the plan to raid the POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga.
“We already gathered leads in these past three days,” PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said in a press forum yesterday.
Casio earlier floated the possibility of a possible leak after the Porac raid resulted only in the rescue of 158 foreign nationals, far below the estimated 1,000 foreigners working in the POGO hub.
He said PAOCC will coordinate with other agencies involved in the POGO raid on Monday to discuss the leads the agency has gathered.
“We will give them the leads then we will allow the agencies to do the investigation,” Casio said.
As this developed, Casio said it is unlikely to have controversial Bamban Mayor Alice Guo as a state witness in the illegal activities of the POGO hub in her town unless she can name someone higher in the alleged crime.
Casio said Guo appears to be the primary culprit, which disqualifies her from becoming a state witness.
“Any state witness, for that matter, would have to be the least guilty in the entire conspiratorial chain in the commission of the crime,” Casio said.
“We’re not considering that option unless we can target someone higher up,” he added.
Guo faces a non-bailable trafficking charge at the Department of Justice, while the Office of the Solicitor General has petitioned to cancel her birth certificate after the National Bureau of Investigation confirmed the mayor and Chinese passport holder Guo Hua Ping have the same fingerprints.
Casio said PAOCC is seeking the gradual phaseout of POGOs rather than an immediate ban.
“Maybe before we jump into talking about a complete ban, we could go back and talk about phasing it out,” Casio said.
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