Ong, through her lawyer Ferdinand Topacio, spoke at a media forum held at Kamuning Bakery Cafe in Quezon City, appealing to the Senate to allow her absence in the next hearing scheduled on Monday, September 9.
"Ms. Cassandra Li Ong can no longer bear it. If you want to send her to jail, then send her to jail," Ong said. "Even in a women's correctional facility, I will endure—just do not publicly humiliate me in front of millions."
On September 4, Ong missed the last hearing in the House due to low blood pressure and hypoglycemia, and could only sit in a wheelchair. Topacio's assistant and another lawyer for Ong, Raph Andrada, stated that she had been confined to a hospital until the time of posting and had suffered multiple mental breakdowns.
Andrada mentioned, "It's hard to say" what mental illness Ong might have, but "we can definitely say that the whole experience has been painful."
"Due to this trauma, she has already broken down several times. In fact, when I visited her last night to update her on the latest developments in the case, she broke down again. I learned that this morning she received some documents related to the legal proceedings... but I learned that she broke down again," Andrada said.
Topacio called on Senate Minority Deputy Leader Risa Hontiveros and other senators to recognize Ms. Ong's plight. Hontiveros is the chair of the Senate Women's Committee, which is handling this investigation.
"Send her to jail. If we are to prosecute her, then let's do it. But let's not keep her subjected to this drama anymore. I feel sorry for her," Topacio said.
Ong denies being a puppet or operator of the raided POGO in Bongabon, Nueva Ecija, although she is listed as a representative of the company in multiple documents. She claims to be the majority shareholder of Whirlwind, a real estate company that leases its premises to POGO.
Ong is one of the 34 individuals accused of money laundering.
Ong and Alice Guo's sister, Shiela Guo, were arrested in Indonesia and brought back to the Philippines in August. Ong told House members that her boyfriend is Wesley, the brother of Alice Guo, but she is not closely related to Alice Guo, who also has connections with a raided POGO in her town.
On September 4, Alice Guo, who was also arrested in Indonesia, had previously used mental health issues, particularly "stress" and "trauma," as excuses to evade the Senate's investigation. When Philippine authorities came to Indonesia to fetch her, she told Interior Minister Benhur Abalos that she had received death threats.
Alice Guo has now returned to the Philippines and is detained by the Philippine National Police, expected to testify at the Senate hearing on Monday.
