OPENING STATEMENT OF SENATOR RISA HONTIVEROS DURING THE POGO HEARING

Dear colleagues, resource persons, friends. Magandang umaga po sa ating lahat. Just to refresh everyone's memory, sinimulan natin ang hearing na ito noong mayroon po tayong tinulungang isang dosenang Pilipino na makabalik mula sa Myanmar, kung saan sila natraffic sa isang malaking scam hub na malapit sa border ng Thailand.

I am happy to share that one of our rescuees, si Alias Rita, has chosen to transform her trauma to make a positive impact. Sa tulong ng Active Citizenship Foundation, binabahagi niya ang kanyang karanasan sa mga youth and students para hindi sila mabighani ng mga scam hubs.

Ngunit, mula good news ay papunta sa bad news. When we started the hearings, we wanted to cast a light on the phenomenon of Filipinos being trafficked to other countries, usually in the Southeast Asia Region, to work as "scammers". Then we discovered that these scam hubs which we once believed were predominantly in other countries, perhaps in more fragile democracies, are actually here in the Philippines.

Sinilip natin ang Clark scam hub, sinilip natin ang Pasay scam hub, and perhaps there were some of us who still thought that these were isolated cases - nowhere near the contagion that has hit our Southeast Asian neighbors.

Pero friends, dito po ako nabigla. I was very disturbed to hear that there is persuasive information from the intelligence community stating na itong Bamban complex na ito ay ginagamit for surveillance activities, at ang mga ibang nabalitang high profile cases of hacking of our own government websites ay traceable sa complex na ito.

ARE POGOS NOW BEING USED TO SPY ON US? GINIGISA NA BA TAYO SA SARILI NATING MANTIKA?

Labas pa ito sa impormasyon na there were actual Chinese fugitives found in the Baofu compound.

Then comes the most troubling news: tayo na po ang isa sa fastest growing hotspot for scams sa buong mundo. According to our colleagues in PAOCC, halos lahat po ng malawakang imbestigasyon on cyberfraud and cyberscams sa mundo, may nexus sa Pilipinas. Ibig sabihin there is some kind of traceable connection to the Philippines. Halo-halong kalamay na ang scams, national security threats, human trafficking. If these scam hubs are so lucrative, hindi na ito titigil. This will just grow and grow. And before we know it, we will be faced with a threat to our national security like nothing we have ever seen before.

How did we come to this? Paano tayo nakaabot dito? What forces conspired or continue to conspire to allow this to happen?

Perhaps what we will show you next will shed some light on this.

Ayan po makikita niyo, sa gitna ng Munisipyo ng Bamban, Tarlac, isang nakapalaking complex na kala mo nasa BGC ka. Ito ay ang naka register sa Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated (ZYTI) pero ang lupa ay sa BAOFU Corporation nakapangalan.

Within this complex, are various buildings na ayon sa Presidential Anti Organized Crime Commission ay ginagamit para sa scams. Love scam po ang karaniwan na ginagawa dito. Parang yung ginagawa noon nila Alias Rita, nagpapaibig sa mga nasa ibang bansa, at pagkatapos ay huhuthutan.

We also saw the gleaming villas within this compound, valued at over 40 million pesos per villa. May wine cellar, state of the art kitchen and toilets, at ang laking gulat ko, ay entrance papunta sa isang underground bunker at a maze of tunnels. Ang tanong, bakit may bunker, bakit may tunnels? Why would a registered POGO conducting legal activities need this?

I was even more surprised when I found out that there was clear documentary evidence linking the Local Government of Bamban, specifically the Mayor, to the operations. Mamaya po iisa-isahin po natin ito, sa tulong ng PAOCC, na unang nakakuha ng mga documents na ito. Inimbitahin po natin din ang Mayor ng Bamban para magbigay ng kanyang paliwanag.

Ang mga susunod na tanong: kung totoo ang mga ito, hanggang local government lang ba ang sphere of influence nitong mga Chinese pogo? Or mayroon pang mga protektor sa itaas?

Pogo at scams lang ba ang intensyon, or is there a larger, and more sinister end game? It does not abate my worries in the least that separate sources in the intelligence community and various executive agencies are sounding the alarm of large tracts of land around EDCA SITES being purchased by Chinese nationals with Filipino identity documents. Ang modus, di umano, ay late registration of birth.

Friends, our investigations in the Senate are never to pin anyone down. Hindi po namin layunin - o tungkulin - na maghain ng "evidence beyond reasonable doubt" laban sa mga indibidwal o opisina. Tungkulin po namin siyasatin at unawain ang mga kaganapan sa ating lipunan na maaring maging batayan para magsulong ng mga batas at polisiya.

And if these POGOs provide cover for scams and human trafficking, if these POGOs engender corruption in the pubic service, if these POGOs threaten our national security - sa tingin ko malinaw ang direksyon na dapat natin tahakin.