Makati shuts firm run by drug-using Chinese

The Makati City government has shut down an online gaming firm on Ayala Avenue whose Chinese general manager was earlier arrested for possession of illegal drugs.

Haoying Solutions Inc., which held office on the 15th floor of Multinational Bancoporation building, was ordered closed by Mayor Abby Binay on Thursday for operating without a valid mayor’s permit.

Records from the city’s Business Permits Office (BPO) showed that Haoying, which was first registered in 2011, had its business permit renewed in January 2016. Its registered address, however, was on the 21st floor of Tower I, Enterprise Center, also on Ayala.

The management of Enterprise Center issued a certification saying Haoying was no longer a tenant of the building since 2016.

Oct. 26 raid

Chinese national Zhang Hai Long, general manager of Haoying, was arrested for drug possession when members of the National Capital Region Police Office raided the office on Oct. 26 on a search warrant issued by Judge Bonifacio Pascua of Makati Regional Trial Court-Branch 56.

Eight sachets of “shabu” as well as drug paraphernalia were seized from Zhang, according to the NCRPO.

The police also  found out that the firm was engaged in illegal online gambling and had 60 employees—composed of 50 Chinese, four Singaporean, four Taiwanese and one Hong Kong national—who only had tourist visas.

Earlier, NCRPO intelligence chief Senior Supt. Eleazar Matta said Haoying, which then presented a certificate of registration from the Cagayan Economic Zone Authority dated Dec. 20, 2015, was supposed to be operating in Santa Ana, Cagayan province, as a company engaged in gaming support services or business process outsourcing.—DEXTER CABALZA