Sta. Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez —official website of the House of Representatives/congress.gov.ph
MANILA, Philippines — A woman who holds a 58 percent stake in the land where the raided Pampanga Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) sits is also believed to be a Chinese national—availing of the same scheme used by suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.
This was the revelation made by Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz during the House of Representatives’ investigation on Tuesday, adding that Whirlwind Corp. incorporator Cassandra Li Ong’s parents availed of the late registration method.
Whirlwind Corp. leased a 10-hectare land inside the Grand Palazzo Royale in Porac, Pampanga to Lucky South, a company that operated the Pogo in the area.
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The issue of Ong’s citizenship was brought up by Santa Rosa City Rep. Dan Fernandez, chairperson of the House committee on public order and safety, who showed a local birth certificate indicating that Ong is a Filipino. However, another document showed that Ong’s father is a Chinese national.
“Before we proceed, I need to show something […] we’ll validate the birth certificate so that we can confirm now that Cassandra Li Ong is a Chinese (citizen), because they were able to get a (birth certificate),” Fernandez said.
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‘We have a problem with PSA’
“Katherine Cassandra Li Ong is Chinese, her father is Richard Ong Chao, and then another birth certificate of his father shows that he is Chinese […] so basically that’s the problem, we have a problem with PSA (Philippine Statistics Authority), okay, regarding availing for late registration,” he added.
When Fernandez asked how Ong got a Filipino citizenship, Cruz explained that Ong’s case has drawn similarities to the scheme availed by Guo—where her birth is registered late at the registry, and that old childbirth methods were used, plus both individuals’ traditional midwives are dead.
“As to the modus on how Cassandra Li Ong gained her Filipino citizenship sir, this is the same with suspended Mayor Alice Guo, what they used is the late registration of birth certificate at usually—even in the birth certificate of Cassandra Li Ong—we can see that a midwife assisted in their birth. And both midwives are dead,” Cruz said.
“So this is the same modus operandi being used, and si Cassandra Li Ong, she was born in 2000 and late registration was done in 2001. It was registered with the PSA and that was placed at her baptismal certificate niya,” he added.
READ: Pogo probe: Guo, 2 other Bamban execs suspended
According to Cruz, Ong may have been a year old already when she was brought into the Philippines in 2000.
“Most likely sir, our assumption here is that Cassandra Li Ong was born in China, brought here to the Philippines when she was one year old, and then availed of late registration,” he explained.
Violating limits on foreign ownership?
Fernandez meanwhile noted that legality of Whirlwind Corp. is now questionable as Ong having Chinese citizenship would boost the stake owned by foreigners to 98 percent—violating limits on foreign ownership.
“So basically she has a 58 percent stake, plus 10 percent for the other Chinese national, and then another 10 percent for the second Chinese national — it appears that they control 98 percent, two Filipinos have one percent each,” he said.
“So basically that property belongs to the government,” he added.
Guo has been on the hot seat ever since a Senate panel established her links to the Pogo in Bamban, Tarlac, which was raided last March 13 due to human trafficking complaints.
According to the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG), Guo has links to the Pogo because she has business interests in Baofu Land Development Inc., which leased the land to Zun Yuan—the company operating the Pogo in the area.
DILG said Baofu, as represented by Guo who was president of the company, purchased eight parcels of land in Bamban last February 2019.
‘Grossly incongruent’
Guo claims to have divested ownership of Baofu, but DILG believes the amount she divested it for—P2.5 million— was “grossly incongruent to her investment on Baufo which is approximately eight hectares of land”.
This is not the first time however that the House stumbled on a case similar to Guo: last June 19, members of the House committee on dangerous drugs quizzed Henry Bigay, president of local electrical and light company Omni Philippines, as he was discovered having both a Philippine and a Chinese passport.
Lawmakers eventually compared Bigay’s case to Guo’s, noting that both were registered late, were raised solely by a Chinese father, and were owning two passports.
They also pointed out that Bigay’s father, Yatai International Corporation founder Yang Hua Hong, was not listed as his father in his Philippine birth certificate.
Only Bigay’s mother, a certain Maria Luisa Bigay, was listed as his parent, but Bigay admitted to having been raised by his father.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. during his 2024 State of the Nation Address (Sona) announced a total ban on all Pogos, citing the problems that the games have brought into the country.
Earlier, Speaker Ferdinand Martin Romualdez said he has directed House leaders and officials to quickly craft a bill that will impose a total ban on Pogos. Romualdez said a law may be necessary despite Marcos’ announcement, to ensure that the ban stays even after the President’s term.