Philippine Senator Risa Hontiveros revealed during the Senate Committee on Justice and Human Rights hearing on March 5th that three deported Chinese offshore gambling (POGO) "bosses" - Lyu Xun, Kong Xiangrui, and Wang Shangle - did not return to China but "disappeared" during a layover.
Fortunato Manahan, the director of the intelligence division of the Bureau of Immigration (BI), admitted at the hearing that these three individuals took an AirAsia flight, supposedly transferring through Hong Kong, China, but the immigration could not confirm their final arrival in China.
What is more shocking is that this deportation action was completed swiftly within just two weeks, but the immigration only ensured that the three boarded the plane and did not track their final itinerary. Arvin Cesar Santos, the legal director of BI, explained that unless the deportees are wanted criminals, the immigration has no right to monitor their whereabouts.
Hontiveros expressed her outrage, pointing out that this deportation action did not achieve its purpose and questioned whether the Philippine government is capable of strictly enforcing the expulsion measures against suspects related to POGO. She warned that if the current deportation policies remain so lax, more POGO fugitives might "disappear into thin air" in the future.
Hontiveros further pointed out that even though these POGO leaders have been blacklisted, they might still exploit the "border management loopholes" of the Philippines to sneak back into the country. She urged the immigration bureau to thoroughly review the deportation procedures and emphasized: "If even high-risk issues like POGO cannot be effectively managed, the Philippines might become a haven for criminals!"
Currently, the Senate is conducting further investigations into this case and calling on the government to strengthen border control to ensure that deportation actions are truly implemented.
