The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality presents a portion of a conversation with Wang Fugui, who claimed that dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo is a spy, during a hearing in Pasay City on October 8, 2024. Fugui, who was formerly a co-inmate of She Zhijang, allegedly holds She’s files, which include a dossier on Guo. Mark Demayo, ABS-CBN News/File

MANILA (UPDATE) — As the Senate closes its investigation into the offshore gambling industry and the crimes it supposedly unleashed in the country, Sen. Risa Hontiveros revealed Tuesday that China might have used POGOs for "espionage" and propaganda activities in the Philippines.

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During the last hearing of the Senate into POGOs, Hontiveros, chair of one of the panels that led the investigation, presented "the findings of my team on the question of the use of POGOs for espionage activities."

Hontiveros said her office took a "deep dive" into the identity of Chinese tycoon turned spy She Zhijiang following his exposé in an Al Jazeera documentary, where he said Alice Guo was a fellow agent.

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The senator said that in 2014, She was a subject of a China court order for running an illegal casino that he supposedly set up in the Philippines beginning 2011.

But Hontiveros implied that She was somehow spared from prosecution in China possibly due to his recruitment as its "asset."

"Mga kaibigan (My friends), according to my informants, if you have a warrant in China, it is very hard to move around, you cannot get a new passport, you cannot go to China. Unless mayroong nag-ayos sa’yo na matataas na tao. At diumano ang dahilan kung bakit ito naaayos ay dahil nga kinukuha sila bilang intelligence asset... to work for the Chinese Communist Party," Hontiveros said.

(Unless someone arranged it from the higher ups. And allegedly, his legal trouble was fixed because he was recruited as an intelligence asset.)

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Around 2016 to 2017, She obtained a visa from Cagayan Economic Zone Authority (CEZA). A CEZA visa is a "multiple entry visa issued to foreign nationals employed by enterprises registered under the CEZA," its website said.

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It was during this time that She was supposedly tapped by a certain Ma Dong Li to work specifically on the Philippines.

"A few months later, or in mid-2017, nabuo na ang plano para sa Yatai New City Project, o ang Shwe Kokko... Magkasama po si Ma Dong Li at itong si She Zhijiang sa project na ito. Very interestingly, it is a documented fact that state-owned enterprises affiliated with the Communist Party of China were part of Yatai from the start. In short, She Zhijiang worked intimately with Beijing after 2016," Hontiveros said.

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Hontiveros said She provided them some information that she found "chilling."

"Nagimbal din ako sa impormasyon, which confirms some of my earlier theories that scam cities are used to sow disinformation campaigns to influence hearts and minds. Mukhang hindi lang sugal, scam at trafficking ang pakay ng mga compound na ito, kundi fake news din," she said.

(I was stunned... It appears that POGOs are not only used for scamw and trafficking, but also in manufacturing fake news.)

"POGO is a monster. Siya ay halimaw na gumagawa ng human trafficking, money laundering, torture, at espionage," Hontiveros added.

Hontiveros also accused Duterte-era economic adviser Michael Yang "a key actor in Chinese intelligence operations here."

In a message, Michael Yang’s legal counsel Raymond Fortun said, “Allegation is not proof. It is reckless to create conclusions based on people being together in a photo.”

The senator meanwhile named Yatai Spa, a spa beside Newport City in Pasay once associated to She, as a supposed site for Chinese Communist "propaganda."

“Nagpamasahe po doon ang aking informants a few weeks ago, and they took a photo of this QR code that was freely available in the buffet area. Ito po ang sumambulat noong clinick namin ang QR code. A telegram group called Hongsheng... It also has a video containing a mishmash of anti-US statements and a call to serve the motherland," Hontiveros said.

The Senate ended its probe into POGOs Tuesday afternoon. —With a report from Victoria Tulad, ABS-CBN News

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