Solon seeks inclusion of Atong Ang in inquiry

A party-list lawmaker wants the House probe of the alleged takeover by “jueteng” lords of Small Town Lottery (STL) expanded to include the Virtual 2 Ball games run by gambling expert Charlie “Atong” Ang.

Abakada Rep. Jonathan de la Cruz filed House Resolution No. 2498, directing the committee on good government and public accountability to investigate the issuance to special economic zones, such as the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (Ceza), of  licenses to operate gaming activities.

De la Cruz is pushing for the probe to zero in on Ang’s Meridien Vista Gaming Corp.,  which runs jai-alai and its subsidiary game, Virtual 2 Ball.

De la Cruz pointed out that Meridian Vista was operating its gambling business solely on the basis of a license issued by Ceza, which “authorized Ang’s firm to operate betting stations anywhere in the Cagayan Freeport and other areas as allowed by law.”

Money laundering

“Several foreign government have expressed concerns that gaming operations have been used for money laundering. There is a need to determine whether to revisit laws governing the operations of the special economic zones as well as those on immigration, money laundering and related undertakings,” said De la Cruz.

Meridien was ordered to shut down in 2010 due to protests led by the Church and the community, but Ang was able to reopen his business through a temporary restraining order issued by the Regional Trial Court in Cagayan and the Court of Appeals. A case filed against Meridien has been pending in the Supreme Court for the past five years.

Last Wednesday, the House committee on games and amusement chaired by Cavite Rep. Elpidio Barzaga Jr. conducted a probe of allegations made by Chair Erineo “Ayong” Maliksi of the Philippine Charity Sweepstakes Office (PCSO) that jueteng lords had taken control of STL franchises.

PCSO revived STL, a numbers game like jueteng, in 2006 to drive out jueteng and other illegal numbers racket.

Maliksi told the committee that he was pushing for the suspension of STL operations until the PCSO management had instituted reforms to ensure that the government was getting its share of the revenues that he claimed should be at least P60 billion annually.

A PCSO report claimed that the illegal numbers game was worth over P100 billion.

Manila Rep. Amado Bagatsing and Laguna Rep. Dan Fernandez asked the National Bureau of Investigation to publicize its report on Ang’s Virtual 2 Ball.

Bagatsing said the NBI should apprise the committee on the status of Virtual 2 Ball game that operated outside the jurisdiction of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. and the PCSO.

Tax exempt

As a Ceza locator, Meridien does not pay any taxes to the government unlike STL, which generated P4.7 billion in revenue for the PCSO last year.

But Barzaga said his committee could not act on Bagatsing’s and Fernandez’s proposal to expand the probe and include Virtual 2 Ball because there was no formal resolution filed and this was outside his committee’s jurisdiction.

“Our problem with games of special economic zones is that these are covered by a special law and do not fall under jurisdiction of the committee on games,” Barzaga said.

De la Cruz also filed House Resolution  No. 2255 that seeks to expand the House probe and include the proliferation of illegal gambling in the guise of gaming and information technology operations in special economic zones. He said these were operated mainly by foreigners.

Spike in criminality

De la Cruz said the House should review how these gambling businesses had obtained a legal status to operate that resulted in “a spike in criminal activities, including but not limited to money laundering, bribery and corruption of public officials.”

At least 100 companies have been registered by Ceza but have operations beyond Cagayan, using their authority and license offering “gaming activities” that may be in violation of their registration, according to the party-list lawmaker.

He cited the case of Chinese national Wang Bo who was ordered deported for operating an illegal “skybet” gambling network in the country.