Manila: Philippine authorities are probing Chinese syndicates’ links in the offshore gambling industry amid reports that two suspects who recently murdered one of their compatriots in a restaurant have been caught possessing Chinese military IDs.
The latest incident involved Chinese nationals Yin Jian Tao, 33, who was shot and killed inside a restaurant in Makati City last Thursday, and his companion, Zheng Kai. The latter was fired at but survived. Both are employed by a Chinese-run Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (POGO) in Makati City.
The victims were meeting with three of their compatriots to have their money changed to another currency when the killing took place.
The suspects were identified by the police as Yang Chao Wen and Liang Yuan Wu, and an unidentified third person reportedly also worked in the POGO sector.
Yang and Liang were caught by authorities but the third suspect was able to escape.
PLA IDs
The incident could have been an ordinary criminal occurrence in the increasingly violent POGO sector except that authorities found identification cards of the Chinese Peoples’ Liberation Army (PLA) in the possession of Yang and Liang.
It is still unsure whether the two are actually engaged in spying for China as there are tens of thousands of Chinese working in POGOs and any of them could have worked with the PLA or are still working with the military.
Senators had expressed concerns that some of these Chinese in the POGO industry fallen victim to human trafficking groups operated by Chinese syndicates in cahoots with corrupt Philippine officials.
There had been a string of violent incidents involving POGO workers including several deaths aside from the latest one in Makati City.
Protests
The presence of POGOs had been a concern since President Rodrigo Duterte had allowed their presence in the country despite protestations from various sectors that these could further open the floodgates to more criminal activities.
“POGOs brings a whole spectrum of crimes into the country, including illegal recruitment, illegal detention as well as prostitution,” Senator Riza Hontiveros earlier said.
Senator Franklin Drilon said the presence of POGOs could also be used by some high rolling Chinese nationals as part of a money laundering scheme for organised crime syndicates.
“The Philippines is becoming a haven for money launderers,” he said in a radio interview on Sunday.
The senior senator said that casinos are among the industries that anti-money laundering coalitions worldwide consider to be prone to money-laundering schemes.
Drilon said that he suspects that the millions of dollars brought into the country between December 2019 to February 2020 would be laundered through casinos and POGOs.
