Clark resort raid fails to find Chinese ‘traffickers’

FOLLOW-UP OPERATION The entrance to Fontana Development Corp. and Fontana Resort and Country Club at Clark Freeport Zone in Pampanga. Photo taken on Friday. —JUN A. MALIG

CLARK FREEPORT ZONE — Authorities who raided the sprawling Fontana estate at Clark Freeport failed to find two Chinese nationals who had been charged with human trafficking, the Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (CIDG) of the Philippine National Police said in a report on Friday.

Lyu Dong, also known as Bao, or Boga, and Da Wei, who went by the alias “David,” were not found during the Thursday night raid on Fontana Villas Nos. 633, 713, 716, 742 and 767. The CIDG report said that searches in Villas Nos. 633, 742 and 767 “yielded negative of trafficked persons.”

These and other villas are being operated by Fontana Development Corp. and Fontana Resort and Country Club at the 300-hectare property in the former US air base.

The CIDG team that implemented the search warrant said a Chinese man, identified as Lim Fukun, was found in one of the villas and was made to undergo a medical checkup before he was turned over to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) for custody and verification.

The search warrant was issued by Judge Hermenegildo Dumlao II of Regional Trial Court Branch 81 of Malolos City.

PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said Lim was a person of interest as a “possible link” between the Pogo (Philippine offshore gaming operator) company in Bamban, Tarlac, and the other in Porac, Pampanga, when he was brought to the commission’s detention center in Pasay City. He was still under investigation as of Friday evening, Casio said.

The raiders also found six safety vaults in Villa No. 716 and eight other vaults in Villa No. 713. The police are seeking authority to open the vaults.

The Fontana operation stemmed from information that several Chinese nationals, who escaped from the raid early this month on the Lucky South 99 Corp. compound in Porac, were hiding in the villas.

The Bamban Pogo, Zun Yuan Technology, was raided in March. Bamban Mayor Alice Guo was ordered suspended in May by the Office of the Ombudsman in connection with Zun Yuan’s operation.

Guo and 13 other people are also facing qualified human trafficking charges following the “rescue” of about 500 foreigners from the Bamban Pogo compound during the March raid led by PAOCC.

Police Maj. Gen. Leo Francisco, the CIDG chief, told reporters in Manila that they arrested one Chinese national, whom he did not identify, in the Fontana raid.

READ: Chinese who is one of ‘big bosses’ of raided Pogo in Porac arrested 

Francisco said the man was allegedly the “manager” and one of the “big bosses” of the Porac Pogo company. It was unclear whether he was referring to Lim.

On Thursday, Senators Sherwin Gatchalian and Risa Hontiveros said the National Bureau of Investigation has established that Guo and a Chinese girl who entered the country 21 years ago were the same person because their fingerprints had matched.

Hontiveros said it was the “strongest evidence” that Guo was a “fake Filipino” who should be immediately removed from office.

Bamban municipal hall employees declined to comment on the latest developments involving Guo, including the NBI’s findings on her fingerprints and the proposed cancellation of her birth certificate.

Residents who agreed to be interviewed asked that their full names not be used for fear of reprisal.

“Willy,” 37, a resident of Bangcu village who did not vote for Guo said she was able to help many people in Bamban.

He said that she had fixed and cemented the town’s main road and installed street lights.

He said he wants to “remain in the middle” of the controversy. But he wonders where Guo gets the money to help people and distribute cakes for birthdays and medicines for the sick.

He voted for Guo

“Antonio,” 49, a softdrinks dealer, said many people would be sad if Guo were removed from office. He voted for Guo in 2022 and would vote for her again if she ran for the same post in the future.

“Al,” 54, a resident of San Nicolas village, did not vote for Guo but said that “in fairness,” she supposedly made Bamban a more prosperous town.

He said that it was up to Guo to prove her innocence.

Vice Mayor Leonardo Anunciacion said he does not think much about the issue and cases filed against Guo.

“As far as I’m concerned, we are doing our duties as elected officials here in Bamban. So, whether or not she (Guo) is a Filipino, we are not affected,” Anunciacion said.

Should Guo be removed from her post, Anunciacion will take over as mayor.

“As far as I’m concerned, I will just let the matter take its course. I will respect any decisions to be made by the concerned national government agencies and the court,” he said.

Hontiveros said the appropriate state agencies should now train their sights on Guo’s three siblings after the NBI was able to establish the supposed real identity of the suspended Bamban mayor.

READ: BI arrests 37 Chinese nationals in illegal retail trade 

Hontiveros, who has been leading the Senate inquiry into Pogos, said Guo’s nationality has been settled after the NBI found that the mayor’s fingerprints matched with that of Guo Hua Ping, a Chinese girl who arrived in the country in 2003.

Gatchalian was the first to raise the possibility that Guo’s real name was Guo Hua Ping based on the documents provided to him by the Board of Investments and the Bureau of Immigration.

Source of fingerprints

The NBI, the primary investigative arm of the Department of Justice, said last Thursday that it obtained Hua Ping’s fingerprints from her alien fingerprint card dated March 28, 2006, and Guo’s fingerprints from her NBI clearance application on March 10, 2021.

NBI Assistant Director Jose Doloiras said in a report that their fingerprints “were found identical.”

“In view of the foregoing, (the) fingerprints of Guo, Hua Ping y Lin and (the) fingerprints of Guo, Alice y Leal were affixed by one and the same person,” he said.

According to Hontiveros, the NBI’s conclusion should prompt the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) and other pertinent government agencies to move in and check on the status of Guo’s other family members.

Since Guo is a Chinese citizen, she said it was logical to conclude that her three siblings — Sheila, Siemen, and Wesley — were also foreigners posing as Filipino citizens.

In addition, she said that Lin Wenyi, a Chinese national believed to be Guo’s birth mother, had included the name of the mayor’s siblings in her application for a special investor’s resident visa.

“Then it would follow that they are not Filipino citizens, but are Chinese,” the senator said.

“Let’s check the corporations where they have majority shares and if they used their ‘Filipino citizenship’ to become majority shareholders, they should be investigated by the (SEC),” Hontiveros said.

The 1987 Constitution, she pointed out, mandates that only Filipinos are allowed to have majority ownership of domestic companies. —WITH REPORTS FROM MARLON RAMOS AND NESTOR CORRALES