POGO WORKERS composite image from Inquirer file and stock photos
MANILA, Philippines — The Senate on Monday approved on third and final reading a bill that seeks to grant Filipino citizenship to Chinese national Li Duan Wang, who is believed to have links to Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos).
At the chamber’s plenary session, House Bill No. 8839 was approved with 19 affirmative votes, one negative, and zero abstention.
Only Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros voted against the passage of the measure, emphasizing that she cannot, in good conscience, vote to grant Filipino citizenship to Wang.
Earlier, Hontiveros appealed to her colleagues, requesting that they reject the bill because Wang is a “junket operator” of Nine Dynasty Casino, one of the biggest Pogo actors revealed in the hearings earlier held by the Senate panel on women.
Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros opposes the bill granting Philippine citizenship to Li Duan Wang. During the plenary session on Jan. 27, 2025, Hontiveros explained her vote against House Bill No. 8839. However, the Senate approved the bill on third and final reading with 19 affirmative votes. According to Hontiveros, Wang is a junket operator and partner of Duanren Wu, the alleged big boss of the raided Pogo in Porac, Pampanga. The lawmaker also said his business is in the same building as the business of She Zhijiang, a self-confessed Chinese spy. He is allegedly connected to the Philippine Jinjiang Yuxi Association, which is said to be part of the United Front work of the Communist Party of China. Hontiveros also said in the official documents at the Securities and Exchange Commission, Wang lied and presented himself as a Filipino named Mark Co Ong. (Senate Public Relations and Information Bureau)
According to Hontiveros, Wang, in his application for naturalization, did not disclose that he is a junket operator to the Nine Dynasty. The lawmaker flagged this as alarming, pointing out that if junket is legal, it wouldn’t be hidden from the public.
Apart from this, Hontiveros disclosed that Wang has multiple taxpayer identification numbers, which goes against the country’s policy.
Hontiveros also sounded the alarm over Wang’s affiliation with the Philippine Jinjiang Yu Shi Association, which is believed to be related to the united front of the Communist Party of China.
“Have we not learned anything from Guo Hua Ping, also known as Alice Guo, or Yang Jianxin, otherwise called Tony Yang? Have we not learned our lesson when we were fooled by foreigners who pretended to be Filipino in order to taint our system?” she said during the Senate’s Monday plenary session.
“Are we going to ease our policies to an individual who has hidden from Congress his sketchy ties?” she added.
Hontiveros explained that she is not pronouncing Wang as guilty, but she underscored that the “red flags” surrounding the Chinese national’s application should be valid enough not to easily give him a Filipino citizenship.