WITNESS. Philippine National Police officers escort dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo for her appearance at the Senate hearing on illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators in Pasay City on Tuesday (Sept. 17, 2024). Guo maintained she has no links with the illegal gaming industry. (Photo courtesy of Senate PRIB)
MANILA – The intelligence community is looking into reports that a former chief of the Philippine National Police (PNP) allegedly accepted bribes from Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), a Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (PAGCOR) official said Tuesday.
PAGCOR senior vice president for security Raul Villanueva made the revelation during the Senate hearing on illegal POGOs, when asked by Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros about allegations that a high-ranking official from the Bureau of Immigration accepted a PHP200 million bribe to help Alice Guo flee the country.
"May mga usap-usapan po within the intelligence community, pero wala pa pong confirmation or mga witnesses kung meron talagang nabigyan but yan ang usap-usapan ngayon (There are talks within the intelligence community, but there is no confirmation or witnesses yet if someone was actually paid but that is the talk now). But they're still validating it," Villanueva said.
"I think it was mentioned, a former PNP chief. I don't know who. I think they are validating it right now. I even went to NICA [National Intelligence Coordinating Agency] last week, but there's no information about it,” he said.
Before working with PAGCOR, Villanueva served in the Philippine Army from 1990 to 2013.
In 2015 to 2017, he served in the Intelligence Service of the Armed Forces of the Philippines.
"It gets worse and worse. Kanina bad enough ‘yung magbayad diumano ng daang milyong pisong suhol para makatakas ang isang Guo Hua Ping. Even worse kung historically may (Earlier it was bad enough for somebody allegedly paying a hundred million pesos bribe for a certain Guo Hua Ping to escape. Even worse if historically, there is a) monthly payroll," Hontiveros said.
Meanwhile, Senator Ronald Dela Rosa expressed his concern about the information, considering that he was a former PNP chief.
"Baka mamaya merong lalabas na script diyan na si Bato ay tumatanggap ng pera galing sayo (Maybe later a script will come out saying that Bato receives from you)," Dela Rosa said, addressing Guo.
"Wala pong ganon na nangyayari. Sigurado po ako (There is nothing like that happening. I am sure)," Guo responded, assuring she has never met Dela Rosa prior to the Senate hearings.
Both NICA and the National Bureau of Investigation declined to comment about the information provided by Villanueva to the panel. (PNA)
