EVIDENCE of bank transactions establishes an undeniable link between dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo and the raided illegal Pogo hub in the town, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said on Tuesday, September 17, 2024.
During the continuation of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality’s inquiry into the raided illegal Pogo hub in Bamban, Gatchalian bared the cash flows of accounts under Guo and several firms attributed to her during the time that the raided illegal Pogo hub was being constructed from 2018 to 2024.
The overall construction cost of the firm was roughly estimated at P7,666,015,258.
Deposits to Guo’s accounts significantly went up from 2018 to 2024, as compared to the years prior, where a total of P1.949 billion came in — P133.090 million in 2018, P346.901 million in 2019, P572.824 million in 2020, P284.736 million in 2021, P286.263 million in 2022, P288.725 in 2023, and down to P36.269 million in 2024.
A total of P3.010 billion was also deposited under Guo’s QJJ Farm account during the same period, and P531.288 million in the QJJ Embroidery Center Inc. account to which Guo serves as the company president.
For the QSeed Genetics Inc. to which Guo serves as the chairman of the board, from a dormant account from 2016 to 2020, a total of P279.872 million was deposited from 2021 to 2014.
“’Yung timing ng deposits sa kanya pumapasok sa (same period ng) pagpapatayo ng Pogo hub sa Bamban,” said Gatchalian.
(The deposits were made the same period when the Pogo hub in Bamban was constructed.)
“San galing ang pera? Kasi we also checked the tax payment, ‘yung corporate papers, walang ganung kita na pumapasok sa accounts mo so saan galing to?” he added.
(Where does the money come from? Because we also checked the tax payment, the corporate papers, there is no such income entering your accounts, so where does it come from?)
Guo invoked her right to self-incrimination amid the ongoing cases filed against her by the Anti-Money Laundering Council.
There are 87 counts of money laundering filed against Guo and other respondents at the Department of Justice.
A Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) official said these cash inflows should be declared to the BIR as it is considered the company’s income.
He said these are already being investigated by the BIR.
“This is an obvious case of money laundering dahil ‘yung pera pumapasok dito ng hindi natin alam saan galing. Dapat dinedeclare ito sa gobyerno, sinasabi ito sa atin ng banko, sinasabi mo (Guo) rin sa banko kung saan galing itong perang ito pero until now, walang alam saan nanggagaling ang perang ito,” said Gatchalian.
(This is an obvious case of money laundering because the money comes in without knowing where it came from. It should be declared to the government and the bank, you (Guo) also tell the bank where this money comes from but until now, no one knows where this money comes from.)
Gatchalian also noted a total of P1,112,358,957.04 check disbursement from Guo’s accounts.
Guo initially said she is willing to provide the panel the records in relation to her check disbursements once she is free but later took it back in consideration to the complaints filed against her by the AMLC.
“May records sa office para sa payees ng check mava-validate n’yo naman po but definitely, wala po ‘yung sinasabi niyo po na pinatayo po ng Pogo hub po sa Bamban po. Yan po ‘yung para sa farm lang po,” she said.
(There are records in the office for the payees of the check, you can validate it, but definitely, there is nothing about what you said that it was for the Pogo construction in Bamban. It was only for the farm.)
The committee has ordered the issuance of subpoenas to compel Guo to produce the disbursement records.
Gatchalian also noted that the payment for the million’s worth electric bill of the Pogo hub is being debited on the accounts of Guo’s companies.
“The evidence will speak for itself na active participant ka and even without the license and even when you were a mayor, tinutulungan mo itong Pogo hub sa Bamban (you were helping the Pogo in Bamban),” he said.
“Pattern ‘yung mga companies na family companies mo, ng Guo family businesses ay nagagamit as front and layers para mag-operate ang Pogo hub sa Bamban for conduit purposes. Hindi talaga farm, piggery. Ito ay ginagamit para patakbuhin ang Pogo hub,” he added
(It was a pattern that family companies, the Guo family businesses are used as front and layers for the Pogo hub to operate in Bamban for conduit purposes. It’s not really a farm, a piggery. It is used to run the Pogo hub.)
In March, the Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated (ZYTI) in Bamban, Tarlac was raided by law enforcement personnel led by the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission following reports of involvement in illegal activities such as kidnapping, human trafficking, illegal detention, scamming and surveillance of government websites.
The operation resulted in the rescue of 800 employees, including around 500 foreigners, of which 427 were Chinese nationals.
Also found in the 7.9-hectare property, owned by Baofu Land Development Inc. (BLDI) but was leased to ZYTI, were several luxury vehicles and huge amount of cash hidden inside security vaults, gleaming villas valued at over P40 million each, a wine cellar, state-of-the-art kitchen and toilets, an underground bunker, and a maze of tunnels.
The ZYTI was formerly Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc. that was raided by the authorities on February 1, 2023 also due to involvement in illegal activities.
Guo has repeatedly denied any links to Pogo operation but she admitted that she formerly owned half of the BLDI to which she divested in 2021, before she became the town’s mayor in 2022.
It also appeared that Guo helped the firm secure its permission to operate.
Gatchalian alleged that Guo “opened the doors” for her business partners at the BLDI, identified as Huang Zhiyang, Baoying Lin, Ruinjin Zhang, Can Yu Zheng and Jie Zhang, to operate a Pogo in Bamban.
Intelligence reports suggest that Huang, the alleged “big boss” of Pogo in the Philippines, was the one who aided Guo escape the country amid the ongoing investigation of the Senate, while Jie Zhang helped in booking a hotel in Batam, Indonesia for Guo and her siblings while they were in hiding.
“Hindi malayo na ang perang pumapasok sa account mo galing dito sa lahat ng mga taong ito at binuksan mo ang pinto para sa kanila para mapatayo nila ang Pogo hub sa Bamban at gawin ‘yung kanilang masasamang ginagawa gaya ng human trafficking, scamming at iba pa,” said Gatchalian.
(The money coming into your account was from all these people, and you opened the door for them to set up the Pogo hub in Bamban and do their bad activities, such as human trafficking, scamming and others.)
In his third State of the Nation Address in July, President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. ordered the total ban of Pogo in the country in light of the raided firms in Bamban and Porac, Pampanga that uncovered the illicit activities of Pogos. (TPM/SunStar Philippines)
