PAOCC nabs ‘big boss’ in Fontana raid
CLARK FREEPORT – IT had finally come full circle. Government authorities returned to the “birthplace of POGOs” within the Clark Freeport Zone in search of the fugitive partners of suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo.
The alleged one of the “big bosses” of the Lucky South 99 POGO in Porac town was arrested in one of the villas being rented to the business partners of Mayor Guo identified as fugitive Huang Zhiyang, an incorporator from the raided Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated in Bamban, Tarlac; Zhang Ruijin and Lin Baoying.
The villas are all located inside the Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino, which served as a haven of the first POGO operations within the Clark Freeport Zone in the past years.
The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) swooped down on five villas on Thursday evening and arrested one of the alleged “big bosses.” The raiding team comprised of the PAOCC, Philippine National Police, Crime Investigation and Detection Group, and Special Action Forces. They were assisted by Clark Development Corporation personnel.
The search warrant for the Fontana raid was issued by Judge Hermenegildo Dumlao II of the 81st branch of the Regional Trial Court, 3rd Judicial Region in Malolos, Bulacan, due to alleged violations of laws against trafficking in persons. The raiding team served a search warrant against the occupants of Villas Nos. 633, 713, 716, 742, and 767. PAOCC Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz said the villas were allegedly rented out to fugitive Huang Zhiyang, an incorporator from the raided Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated in Bamban, Tarlac, Zhang Ruijin and Lin Baoying.
They three are allegedly Guo’s fellow incorporators in Baofu Land Development. The team had accosted 20 foreigners during the raid in Fontana but one male Chinese, the alleged “big boss” in the POGO operations in Porac was taken to the Nasdake Building in Pasay City for questioning. Reports have it that those who escaped the raid at Lucky South 99 in Porac, Pampanga, had been hiding inside Fontana Resorts. CIDG Director Major General Leo Francisco said that aside from the arrest of one of the “big bosses,” 14 safety vaults were also recovered. He said they will seek permit for the opening of the recovered vaults. At the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020, Chinese nationals allegedly working in a POGO inside Fontana underwent health testing at Fontana Leisure Park after the discovery of an underground hospital treating patients for COVID. Senator Risa Hontiveros then urged the PNP and CDC to probe the alleged illegal online operations inside the Fontana Leisure Parks and Casino for violations. Hontiveros made the call after police arrested seven Chinese men, six Chinese women and two Vietnamese women were found to be involved in prostitution and human trafficking activities inside the resort. Illegal POGO operations, an illegal hospital treating Chinese nationals for COVID-19, and prostitution, had been uncovered in Fontana in the past. In May 2023, the cases of human trafficking and torture were also uncovered at the Sun Valley Clark hub, the largest illegal POGO operations inside the Clark Freeport Zone. More than 1,000 human trafficking victims were rescued in the Clark POGO most of whom had been allegedly tricked to work in crypto scams and love scams. The Sun Valley POGO was operated by the CGC Technologies. Pampanga residents said Clark was the “birthplace of POGOs” because it was here where thousands of foreign workers had been rescued first in the past.