Minority of one

THE LATEST in the Alice Guo saga is the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. admitting that officials from the Duterte administration were responsible in granting licenses to illegal offshore gaming operators (POGO).

PAGCOR chairman Alejandro Tengco says at least a former cabinet-level official had lobbied for those licenses. This former official has not been named as of this writing.

These POGOs are mired in countless irregularities. Tengco wonders how they got their licenses under Duterte because most of these outfits have lately been found to be “ineligible and outright suspicious.”

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Tengco says he is naming the former official “in the right forum.”

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, who chairs the Senate committee on women and children, has urged Tengco to attend its next hearing in person and not merely send representatives for PAGCOR.

PAGCOR under the BBM administration has reportedly pared down the number of POGOs to just 43 from the 298 that were issued licenses under Duterte. Tengco is in the best position to provide a backdrop to this crackdown and identify the high-level former officials who serve as protectors to this nefarious Duterte legacy.

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It was Sen. Hontiveros’ dogged determination that led to the prosecution and dismissal of a band of personnel at the Bureau of Immigration who were found to have been greased into facilitating the entry of several Chinese nationals without the requisite screening process.

As it turned out, the “pastillas” scandal is the progenitor to the bigger birth registration scandal that is now shocking the nation. The corruption at the immigration bureau is the twin sister to the corruption now being uncovered at various local civil registry offices that can turn non-Filipinos into Filipinos and adjust birthdates to coincide with certain agenda.

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There are indications that many land acquisitions across the nation might have to be investigated in light of the facts being laid bare in the current inquiry of the Hontiveros committee.

Vital facts of birth are being falsified to capacitate fake Filipinos to acquire land. In Alice Guo’s case, her fake Filipino citizenship helped her acquire vast tracks of land that would be used to house POGO operations, even landing her the prized mayoralty of Bamban, Tarlac.

If this practice is prevalent, it is probable that there are several other fake citizenships that became material ingredients in the acquisition of land – a privilege reserved by the Constitution for Filipinos. They may not even be POGO-related.

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It is impressive how Hontiveros was able to harness the powers of a nondescript Senate committee to help bring to light matters that have disturbing implications on national security. To say that she is an important asset to the Senate, even as a minority of one, is an understatement.

She was also responsible in bringing to national consciousness the crime called qualified human trafficking. The prosecutions against Pastor Apollo Quiboloy were in deep slumber at the Department of Justice until Hontiveros sank her teeth into his cultic practices that victimized many women. Greater advocacies may be in store for her./PN