Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian said the Philippines is becoming a “money laundering hub” after it was found by the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) that billions of
pesos had flowed into the 36 bank accounts of suspended Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo (AKA Guo Hua Ping).
The billions of pesos came from several entities — both independent and companies from China.
After being deposited in the bank accounts of Guo, the monies were transferred to several individuals and corporations in the Philippines.
The bulk of money were deposited to Guo’s accounts from 2019 to 2022. at the time when the POGO hub was being constructed in Bamba.
Gatchalian said the AMLC should have disclosed these transactions. “This is one of biggest angles of this criminality — money laundering.
While the country has a system to immediately detect suspicious money entering several banks, Gatchalian lamented the lack of enforcement and compliance of the system.
“This is also an eye opener,” added the Senator, who along with Sen. Risa Hontiveros, is leading the Senate committee on Women Investigation into the Illegal Activities of POGOs and their alleged connections to Guo and other individuals.
Gatchalian said he will file a separate resolution to conduct a Senate hearing to inquire into the reports and alerts like suspicious transaction of banks suspected to be involved in the case of Guo’s money laundering activities.
The Court of Appeals (CA) issued a freeze order on Guo’s assets which included her 36 bank accounts, a helicopter, 12 motor vehicles and 12 realty properties.
The bank accounts of her business partners Zhiyang Huang, Roderick Paul Pujante, Baoying Lin, Hongjiang Yang, Zhengcan Yu, Zhang Ruijin and Rachelle Joan Carreon will be charged with violation of the Anti-Money Laundering Law.
A total of 18 bank accounts of QJJ Farm, Inc. and 12 bank accounts of 3LIN Q Farm, Inc. and four other corporations owned and others with links to the Guo family were also ordered frozen.
The assets were ordered frozen by the CA following a petition by the AMLC over links to the illegal online gaming operations in the country.
Meanwhile, Sen. Risa Hontiveros said the connection of Michael Yang’s brother to a company of Guo confirms that some POGOs are “One Big Happy Pharmally,” and help establish its links to former President Rodrigo Duterte.
Hontiveros said a report from the AMLC showed that BAOFU, a company of Guo, has a direct transaction in the joint account of Hongjiang Yang and Yu Zheng Can.
Hongjiang Yang is a brother of Michael Yang, financier of Pharmally Biological Company (PH), Inc. and a former economic adviser of ex-President Duterte.
“In short, the money of Michael Yang’s brother was used to fund Hongsheng, the POGO raided in Bamban, Tarlac,” stressed Hontiveros.
But Raymund Fortun, Michael Yang’s legal counsel said he doesn’t know a Hongjian Yang. “I don’t even know Michael has a brother,” he added.
A presentation shown in a Zoom interview, showed that during the Duterte administration, Michael Yang and his brother Hongjiang Yang both attended a Chinese Communist Party-sponsored conference in Beijing for overseas nationals as Philippine representatives of All-China Federation of Returned Overseas.
On the other hand, Yu Zheng Can, is an incorporator of Hongsheng, one of the POGOs raided in Bamban, Tarlac.
“What’s scary is that it really appears that Guo was really connected with a bigger syndicate,” said Hontiveros.
In the same interview, Hontiveros also noted that Hongjiang Yang is an incorporator of Full Win Group of Companies where Gerald Cruz is an incorporator. Cruz is also an incorporator of Pharmally Biological Company (PH), Inc.
“The same Gerald Cruz is also an incorporator of the POGO Brickhartz Technology Inc., which documents were found at the Bamban raid,” said Hontiveros.
Aside from Full Win, Michael Yang also owned another POGO — Shon Wei Technologies Incorporated which has the same email address as Brickhartz.
Admitting that she was an incorporator of BAOFU, Guo (who is also believed to be Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese national) stressed she divested her shares in 2021 when she ran for mayor.
The Senator vowed they will continue to dig deeper into this case which can also lead to the involvement of Duterte.
She hopes President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. will announce a total ban on POGO during his State of the Nation Address (SONA) next Monday.
