September 10, 2024 | 3:15pm
MANILA, Philippines — Police investigators and the anti-organized crime body filed non-bailable trafficking cases against Cassandra Li Ong and 53 other individuals allegedly involved in illegal offshore gaming operations, or POGOs, in Porac, Pampanga.
The joint complaint of the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detention Group’s (PNP-CIDG) and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) was submitted before the Department of Justice on Tuesday, September 10 accusing Ong and alleged accomplices of qualified trafficking in persons.
Besides Ong, other respondents to the case are:
- Former deputy director of the now-defunct Technology Resource Center Dennis Cunanan, and
- Singapore national Zhang Jie, the alleged “big boss” of the raided Porac-based Lucky South 99
- Other Chinese nationals
Jie is believed to have aided the escape of Ong and Alice Guo, the dismissed mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, to Indonesia in August
Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Ty said the prosecution is also looking to attach criminal and civil forfeiture charges to the complaints. These additional accusations would potentially allow the government to seize assets used to human trafficking.
Besides the PNP-CIDG and the PAOCC, 14 victims are co-complainants in the case. Ten of them are foreigners, while the rest are Filipinos.
Kidnapping, indentured work, torture
Syndicates linked to Ong and Lucky South 99 are accused to be involved in kidnapping individuals who were unable to repay debts they incurred in online gambling. They would be sold to POGOs to work off what they owed.
At a press conference, Inter-Agency Council Against Trafficking lawyer Ramoncito Ocampo cited a case of a Chinese worker with a P450,000 gambling debt who was sold to Lucky South 99 after losing his loan through mahjong.
His experience reflects a growing trend of workers trapped in forced labor. Such workers were caught in a cycle of trafficking, prosecutor James Escalona explained to Philstar.com.
“They buy those victims, and when they’re close to reaching an impasse or paying off their remaining balance, they sell them to another POGO,” Escalona said. “So, the victims just keep getting transferred from one place to another.”
Cases piling up
The human trafficking complaint against Ong, who is believed to be linked to Alice Guo, who faced the Senate yesterday, is the second case against the Porac-based POGO filed before the DOJ.
On July 2, the PAOCC also filed human trafficking and other crimes under the Revised Penal Code against two Chinese nationals allegedly involved.
Aside from the human trafficking complaint, Ong is also a respondent to the money laundering complaint filed against Guo on August 30.
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