Photo from the House of Representatives of the Philippines’ Facebook page.
MANILA, Philippines — During the deliberations for the Office of the Vice President (OVP) proposed budget for 2025, 1-Rider party-list Rep. Ramon Rodrigo Gutierrez was one of the few lawmakers who managed to get answers from Vice President Sara Duterte outside of her default responses.
A day after that, Gutierrez again elicited responses from Katherine Cassandra Li Ong, a stakeholder of Whirlwind Corporation which leased land to the raided Philippine offshore gaming operator (Pogo) hub in Porac, Pampanga.
At the House of Representatives quad committee hearing on Wednesday, Gutierrez directed several questions to Ong — initially about her whereabouts, and then eventually asking her if she was familiar with certain personalities involved in Pogos and if she used to work for both Whirlwind and Pogo hub operator Lucky South 99.
“Do you know how to speak Chinese? Is this Fukien or Mandarin?” Gutierrez asked during the early parts of his interpellation.
“Yes po. I know how to use both, a little bit. But not totally fluent,” Ong replied.
Ong also admitted to Gutierrez that she was part of both Whirlwind and Lucky South 99 — confirming the hunch of several lawmakers that she worked for both land lessee and Pogo operator.
“Ms. Ong, you are linked to some corporations, like Whirlwind and Lucky South 99 […] Are you associated with the corporations Whirlwind and Lucky South 99?” Gutierrez asked.
“Yes po,” she answered.
Furthermore, Ong said that she did not start with Lucky South 99 as an executive assistant, contrary to what people thought. However, she asked that she not reveal her first job for the sake of privacy.
“Ms. Ong, you mentioned that you started at Lucky South 99 as an EA, is this correct?” Gutierrez asked again.
“‘That’s what other people want but it’s not true,” Ong replied.
“So that’s not where you started. Will you share with us what position you started from?” the lawmaker pressed further.
“Can I refuse to answer? […] for privacy reasons po,” she explained.
However, Ong maintained that she only processed the applications of Lucky South 99 and Whirlwind before the Securities and Exchange Commission.
“Since that you’ve mentioned po ‘no that you have dealt with applications of corporations, did you deal with applications of other corporations, not only Whirlwind? Would you care to share with us what other corporations you have dealt with?” Gutierrez said.
“Lucky South po, Lucky South 99,” Ong replied.
Toward the end of his questioning, Gutierrez then thanked Ong for answering questions, saying that this is appreciated by quad-comm members.
Earlier, the quad-committee cited Ong for contempt again after she refused to answer questions from lawmakers, saying that she was invoking her right against self-incrimination.
Eventually, Ong changed her answers, replying with a more direct “I refuse to testify,” prompting Manila 6th District Rep. Bienvenido Abante Jr. to make the motion.
READ: House quad-panel cites Cassandra Ong for contempt anew
Like Ong, Vice President Duterte also refrained from directly answering questions raised by lawmakers on Tuesday, only saying that she either forgoes the opportunity to defend the budget in a question-and-answer format, or insisting that they have already coordinated with the Commission on Audit regarding the notice of disallowance on the confidential funds (CF).
READ: Duterte refuses to answer OVP budget questions, sparks House tension
Due to Duterte’s answers, tensions flared with ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro likening the Vice President to a squid who releases ink when under pressure.
READ: Squid tactics? Castro scores VP Sara for deflecting secret fund issue
The breakthrough came during Gutierrez’s questioning, as Duterte claimed that there was a script being followed since 2023, where the CF issue would be used to attack her and the OVP.
Gutierrez asked why the OVP no longer spent its CF for the fourth quarter of 2023. According to the vice president, they no longer used the CF after Congress removed the secret funds for the proposed 2024 budget, to show that they can survive without it.