PACGOR may have Broken Philippine Laws by Joining Mafia Syndicate

Philippine House of Representatives is planning to investigate employees of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (PAGCOR). Employees and officials of PAGCOR, operating in full compliance with Philippine gambling laws, are suspected in working together with a Chinese syndicate, which scammed government casinos out of P150 million.

The scheduled investigation will be carried out by the House committee on justice, which is headed by Iloilo 5th District Rep. Neil Tupas Jr. and also committee on games and amusement, chaired by Manila 5th District Rep. Amado Bagatsing.

Tupas told online gambling news in Philippines that the joint committee will host a series of meetings with PAGCOR officials to find out more on why syndicate members, led by Lu Chu Ben (Ben Lui), managed to leave Philippines after posting bail. The committee has already asked Philippine National Police to confirm rumors that Lu has died in Macau recently.

Lu and his two “colleagues” have been arrested after scamming the government-run casinos out of P150 million. They utilized state-of-the-art communication means to cheat, while playing at a PAGCOR casino. They were initially charged with syndicated “estafa”, but the country’s DoJ downgraded their charges to simple “estafa”, allowing them to post bail of P40,000 each.

Zambales 1st District Rep. Milagros Magsaysay, claimed that she received knowledge that Lu’s aides, identified as Shera Hao and Redin Capilan, returned to Philippines following Lu’s alleged death. Magsaysay also stipulates that Lu’s group was able to get away with P900 million and not P150 million.

The congresswoman also hinted that Hao and Capilan are contemplating to come out in the open. She said: “Hao and Capilan are afraid to come out in the open to identify the PAGCOR officials and employees who were involved in the activities of the Chinese crime syndicate while operating in the country. Both Hao and Capilan are the ones distributing the ‘balato’ to people present in every party hosted by Lui.”