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☆ Who is the real Alice Guo? Fugitive mayor accused of spying for China faces legal reckoning after weeks on the run
▼ + stars: | 2024-09-04 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +10 min

The official inquiry into Alice Guo, disgraced former mayor of a small town not far from the capital Manila, has been compulsive viewing for Filipinos since it began in May. But who exactly is Alice Guo? The Bureau of Immigration (BI) says Indonesian authorities have informed them that former Mayor Alice Guo has been arrested in the country on September 4, 2024. Guo shows her chicken farm in Bamban, Tarlac province, in the Philippines in a YouTube video posted on April 20, 2022. The real concern about Guo arose from her alleged ties with business associates from China currently in prison.

Persons: Alice Guo, Guo, “, Ferdinand Marcos Jr, lawbreakers, ”, Alice L, David Buenaventura, Ditjen, she’s, Alice Leal Guo, scammers, Senator Risa Hontiveros, Marcos Jr, ” Marcos, Guo Hua Ping, hasn’t, Zhang Ruijin, Lin Baoying, Zhang, Lin, AMLC, Shiela, Cassandra Li Ong Organizations: CNN, absconding, Ang Law, Immigration, Philippine Bureau, YouTube, Philippine Offshore Gaming, Philippine News Agency, Philippine senate, Facebook, National Bureau of Investigation, Money, Yuan Technology Inc, Hongshen Gaming Technology Inc, QJJ, Inc Locations: Philippines, Manila, China, South China, Southeast Asia, Indonesia, Bamban, Tarlac province, Malaysia, Vietnam, Philippine, what’s, POGOs, Beijing, Singapore

☆ Philippines bans gambling operations catered to illicit Chinese players
▼ + stars: | 2024-07-23 | by ( Kathleen Magramo | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +4 min

CNN —The Philippines has announced plans to ban offshore gaming operators, targeting an industry that mostly caters to Chinese gamblers and has sparked growing alarm from law enforcement over its alleged connections to organized crime. Known locally as POGOs, Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators have spawned across the country, both licensed and illicit, employing tens of thousands of Chinese and foreign nationals. Ezra Acayan/Getty ImagesThere are 46 licensed offshore gaming operators and dozens more illicit gambling hubs in the Philippines, according to the country’s gaming regulator, which Marcos has ordered to close by the end of the year. Since then, the Philippines has become a major hub for online gaming catering to tens of thousands of players based in China. “Even if overseas casinos are legally opened, cross-border gambling by Chinese citizens is suspected of violating the laws of our country,” the embassy said in a statement.

Persons: Ferdinand Marcos Jr, ” Marcos, Marcos, Ezra Acayan, Marcos ’, Rodrigo Duterte Organizations: CNN, Philippine Offshore Gaming, Macao –, Philippine News Agency Locations: Philippines, Philippine, Manila, Beijing, South China, China, Macao, Southeast Asia, United States, China’s, Singapore

☆ Philippines to shut 175 offshore gambling firms, deport 40,000 Chinese workers
▼ + stars: | 2022-09-26 | by ( ) www.reuters.com time to read: +2 min

MANILA, Sept 26 (Reuters) - The Philippines will stop operations of 175 offshore gambling firms and deport about 40,000 Chinese workers, a justice ministry official said on Monday, part of a crackdown on the notoriously opaque online gaming industry. At their peak, Philippine offshore gambling operators, or POGOs, employed more than 300,000 Chinese workers, but the pandemic and higher taxes have forced many to operate elsewhere. The POGOs targeted for closure had licenses that either expired or were revoked, for violations like non-payment of government fees, Clavano said, adding the deportation of the Chinese workers would start next month. The government generated 7.2 billion pesos ($122.21 million) in 2020 and 3.9 billion last year in POGO fees alone, according to the finance ministry. The sector employs 201,000 Chinese and 111,000 Filipinos, according to Leechiu's data, which estimates POGOs deliver 190 billion pesos ($3.22 billion) to the economy each year, a boon to the property and retail sectors.

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