Acorda: I did not accept money from Guo

MANILA, Philippines —  After he was dragged into a controversy involving people with alleged links to Philippine offshore gaming operators, former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Gen. Benjamin Acorda Jr. maintained that his conscience is clear and stressed that he never enriched himself through money from POGOs.

Speaking to reporters in a phone interview yesterday, Acorda said he never tolerated any illegal transaction in his 37 years as a police officer, including those with personalities linked to POGOs.

While he did not elaborate, Acorda asserted that he was able to do his job in protecting the country and that he would do it all over again for the sake of national security.

He also urged the public to keep an open mind on the issue.

“I hope our countrymen will be open-minded. There’s a lot going on behind the curtains,” he said.

He added that he never benefited from people connected with POGOs, including dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo.

“I can say to anybody squarely, eye to eye, without flinching… that we are clean from Alice Guo,” Acorda said.

The former PNP chief pointed out that it was during his term that police raided Zun Yuan Technology Inc., an alleged illegal POGO reportedly connected to Guo.

Known as an intelligence operative, Acorda intensified law enforcement operations against POGOs during his tenure.

Retired military general Raul Villanueva, who is now an official of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR), earlier revealed that a former PNP chief helped Guo escape.

Villanueva later backtracked on his statement, saying it was only based on rumors.

“We don’t care about her escape. I also did not accept money from her,” Acorda said.

The former PNP chief has been invited to the next hearing of the Senate investigating crimes linked to POGOs after photographs of him with persons linked to the banned industry, including Tony Yang, the elder brother of former presidential economic adviser Michael Yang.

Acorda admitted that he was hurt by insinuations that he was connected with personalities in the POGO industry. He lamented that his reputation has been tainted by just pictures and innuendos without basis.

Asked about the pictures, he said: “I don’t engage in illegal transactions, that’s all I can say.”

Asked if he would request an executive session at the Senate hearing, he said he would study what he has to do when he attends the legislative inquiry.

‘Sensible person’

Acorda assured the Council of Chiefs that he had done nothing wrong even as he appeared in several photos with Yang and other persons allegedly linked to POGOs, according to Sen. Ronald dela Rosa, who called the former PNP chief a “sensible person.”

In a chance interview with Senate reporters, Dela Rosa said Acorda gave the assurance to all 24 living PNP chiefs, who have maintained close communication.

“General Acorda gave us members of the Council of Chiefs the assurance that he is not doing anything bad. He said he is not doing anything wrong,” Dela Rosa, a former PNP chief himself, reiterated.

The senator pointed out that Acorda is not the former PNP chief referred to by Villanueva allegedly to be in the monthly payroll of POGOs.

“Because of that, the source of information was also invalidated, right? Gen. Villanueva himself said in our group chat that ‘I’m not the one. I’m not the one. I’m not doing bad.’ So that was his only explanation to us. Let’s wait for his official explanation to the committee,” Dela Rosa added.

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the presiding officer and chairperson of the Senate committee on women, children and family affairs, was the one who presented photos of Acorda with persons allegedly linked to illegal POGOs.

Hontiveros said she was hopeful that the POGO investigation would end today, but new revelations “warrant further investigations with individuals whose sides need to be heard in the interest of fairness,” prompting her to invite Acorda to the next hearing.

“When it comes to pictures, many people take pictures of us. Anyone can have pictures with us, especially if you are the PNP chief. You can’t say you can’t take a picture with me,” Dela Rosa said.

“As for General Acorda, he will be given his time to explain before the committee in the next hearing. He will explain himself. And I’m sure (he) can explain that properly – why did he take a picture? As we say, if a picture paints a thousand words,” he added.

“You are the PNP chief, the topmost position of the organization, are you going to tarnish yourself with those things?” the senator said.

Prosecution before  deportation for Yang

Meanwhile, instead of seeking Tony Yang’s deportation, the Department of Justice (DOJ) plans to file criminal charges against the Chinese businessman.

Justice Secretary Jesus Crispin Remulla said the government has the option to either deport the elder Yang or file cases against him.

“I think the filing of criminal cases takes precedence now,” Remulla said at a press briefing.

He added that while deporting Yang would be “the most convenient” for the government, it would not solve underlying issues that he said could be a “national security problem.”

“We cannot treat this as just an isolated case. This is something that’s been done to our system of identification of some people. What is needed here is to file a case so that we can get to the bottom of it,” Remulla said.

“We need to know the extent of the crime and see to it that perpetrators are really punished. It has to go with punishment so that it won’t happen again. Deterrence can only be achieved with the certainty of punishment,” he added.

Yang, also known as Yang Jian Xin and Antonio Lim, was arrested on Sept. 19 at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport based on a mission order issued by the Bureau of Immigration.

The BI said Yang was ordered deported for “misrepresenting himself as a Filipino” and faking information on the Securities and Exchange Commission certification of a corporation he owned.

During a Senate hearing, Yang admitted that he is a Chinese who was born in China and obtained a Philippine birth certificate through the help of his grandfather, for “convenience in doing business” in the Philippines.

Yang is being investigated by the DOJ, the BI, Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission, National Bureau of Investigation and the Anti-Money Laundering Council, according to DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty.

Ty said authorities are looking to file falsification charges, as well as the use of illegal aliases, against Yang.

“The NBI and prosecutors in Region 10 are looking into minor cases that can be filed against Yang so that he would no longer be deported and there is reason for him to stay in the Philippines to face criminal charges,” Ty said at the same press briefing.

Authorities will also look into the businesses that Yang is into, the warehouses he owns and his possible links to the illegal POGO industry since he “faked” being a Filipino and used Philippine-identity documents to own corporations and acquire land in the country.

POGO workers

Meanwhile, some 79,000 foreign and local workers are likely to be affected by the closure of all POGO firms in December, according to the Department of Labor and Employment.

The DOLE’s Bureau of Local Employment director Patrick Patriwirawan Jr. said that of the 79,735 workers employed in POGOs, almost 41,000 are Filipinos.

“The total number of workers from the submitted data, including foreign nationals, reaches 79,735, but let’s prioritize or focus only on Filipino workers, who reach 40,962,” Patriwirawan noted during the Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon public briefing yesterday.

He said the different DOLE-regional offices where POGO firms are located have already started profiling affected workers.

In the National Capital Region, the DOLE has already profiled 19,754 Filipino POGO workers; 142 in Central Luzon; 7,837 in Calabarzon and 14 in Central Visayas, according to the labor official.

From the four regions, Patriwirawan said the DOLE regional offices have profiled a total of 27,747 POGO workers.

He added that the DOLE is extending job facilitation services, skills training, as well as livelihood assistance to the affected Filipino workers.

Some P30,000 will be provided to affected workers who opt to put up their businesses after the closure of all POGOs.

The DOLE is also mounting a special job fair for displaced POGO workers next month. – Cecille Suerte Felipe, Daphne Galvez, Mayen Jaymalin