3 CHINESE WHO ESCAPED RAIDED POGO HUBS FOUND HIDING IN FONTANA VILLAS

THREE Chinese nationals who eluded arrest in raided POGO hubs in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac, Pampanga were arrested by the authorities in Mabalacat, Pampanga.

The three – two of them males and one female – were nabbed on Friday inside the Fontana Leisure Park in Mabalacat City.

Agents of the Bureau of Immigration, in coordination with the Clark Development Corporation, made the arrest.

According to Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) spokesperson Dr. Winston Casio, prior to the arrest of the three, Clark authorities sought their help in going after suspected POGO operators and managers who have reportedly chosen to hide in Fontana villas.

The arrested suspects denied allegations they served as “managers” of the raided POGO hubs-turned-scam farms in Bamban and Porac.

The trio also denied being business associates of suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo.

However, the arrested suspects were found to have entered the country illegally and thus will be facing deportation proceedings.

The arrested suspects are being held at the PAOCC detention facility in Pasay City.

Casio said that as of press time, they are tracking down their main target identified as Huang Zhiang who has been tagged as a POGO “Big Boss.”

On Thursday night, agents of the Philippine National Police Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) searched five villas at the Fontana Leisure Resort and Casino in Clark Freeport but failed to find their two targets who were said to be “key POGO operators.”

PNP-CIDG director Maj. Gen. Leo M. Francisco said the suspects identified as Lyu Dong alias “Bao/Boga” and Da Wei alias “David” were not found in  any of the five villas they searched.

The raid was launched on the strength of a search warrant for violation of Republic Act 9208 or the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2002 as amended by RA 10364 issued by Judge Hermenegildo Dumlao II of the Malolos City Regional Trial Court Branch 81 in Bulacan.

Francisco said that 14 safety vaults were recovered inside Florida Villas 716 and 713. He said they will be seeking a court order to open the seized vaults.

The raiders failed to find any trafficked persons in the raided residential places although a Chinese national identified as Lim Fukun was turned over to the PAOCC for further investigation after being subjected to a medical check.

The man was described by PAOCC Executive Director Undersecretary Gilbert DC Cruz as a “person of interest” in their ongoing investigation into the possible link between the POGO hubs raided in Bamban, Tarlac and Porac, Pampanga.

The raid was conducted amid information that a number of Chinese nationals who escaped arrest during the March raid at the Luck South 99 Corporation compound in Porac fled to Fontana and hid in the villas.

Mayor  Guo is being investigated over her alleged links to POGO and has been suspended by the Office of the Ombudsman.

Guo and 13 others were charged with qualified human trafficking before the Department of Justice (DOJ).