DAVAO CITY (MindaNews /05 July) — At a time when tension was mounting over the Chinese aggression in West Philippines Sea, President Duterte allowed the proliferation of Philippines Offshore Operators (POGO) in the country, some established alarmingly close to such critical military establishments as the Clark Airforce base in Tarlac and in the Naval base in Kawit, Cavite.
These POGO hubs are run by thousands of Chinese nationals who are often undocumented on the light of Digong’s open door China policy where Chinese were allowed to enter the country and may only apply for a visa once already around. Thus, was born the pastillas scam. The Chinese began to flood the country in a hodgepodge mix of government spies and thugs, competing with the locals in legitimate and criminal livelihoods. All these were made possible by the unusual tolerance of Duterte then, who claimed that POGO is clean and essential to the economy. The situation was worsened when the questionable businessman and suspected primus of drug lords, Michael Yang, became inseparable with Digong as his economic adviser.
Those in intelligence suspect that the gambling hubs are here to serve as Chinese listening posts and whose primary aim was to undermine the peace and security of the country in fielding sleepers or deep penetration agents, cyber criminals, human traffickers, money launderers, murderers and other criminal elements.
As revealed, the most successful Chinese sleeper is Hua Ping or Alice Guo, who managed to become mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, and secured the operation of POGO and all the nefarious criminal activities that go with it.
We still don’t know how many Alice Guos are there in the country. But we are almost certain that the thousands of Chinese student visa holders in the northernmost part of Luzon are Chinese militia infiltrators.
The Chinese aggressive maneuvers in WPS now appear to be just for show – a distraction for their insidious inland invasion.
Digong has been so friendly and accommodating with China. Even if he was already out of the Palace he still met his old friend Xi Jinping.
It is getting scary. He could be an awakened Chinese sleeper.
(MindaViews is the opinion section of MindaNews. William R. Adan, Ph.D., is retired professor and former chancellor of Mindanao State University at Naawan, Misamis Oriental.)