SENATE, Pasay City — If there is one thing that was unearthed in the investigation on Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs), it has found that many people, including some government officials, had used the gambling industry for their own personal gains.

This was the assessment of lady senator Maria Theresia ‘Risa’ Hontiveros-Baraquel at the final hearing of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations and gender equality on the issues and problems brought about by POGOs.

In ending the probe, Hontiveros, chairperson of the panel, concluded that POGOs “have been revealed to be nothing but a ‘Trojan horse’ that allowed many evils to enter the country to the detriment of the Filipino people.

“For five long years, counting our ‘pastillas’ investigation, the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality tried to leave no stone unturned to unravel the many evils brought to our shores by POGOs—POGOs welcomed with open arms by the administration of former president Rodrigo ‘Rody’ Duterte,” the opposition legislator pointed out.

“They have exposed a web of people who used POGOs for their own selfish interests, their own personal gain— all at the expense of the Filipino people. Walang dinala dito ang mga POGO kundi bangungot,” she added.

Hontiveros presented a chart that showed ex-president Duterte and his former presidential adviser Michael Yang, as well as personalities implicated in the Pharmally scandal, self-confessed Chinese spy She Zhijiang and his alleged recruiter, dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo and her supposed relatives, Katherine Cassandra ‘Cassie’ Li Ong and former presidential spokesperson Atty. Herminio ‘Harry’ Roque, all linked together in the controversy.

In spite this, she maintained, however, that the objective of the investigation was not to “prove any single individual guilty” but to scrutinize “(the country’s) system of laws and policies which allowed these travesties to go unchecked and to fester.”

“Ang nilitis natin dito ay ang katibayan at kasapatan ng ating mga batas para hadlangan ang abuso ng POGO. At ang hatol, noong tinimbang, nakakalungkot at kulang-na-kulang,” Hontiveros cited.

Among the policies that she specified as highly questionable were the birth registration processes, immigration procedures, passport and visa applications, procedures for establishing businesses, bank secrecy and election systems.

“This may be the end of our hearings on POGO, but this is only the beginning of the legislative reforms that we will strive to push, to ensure to every Filipino that there will never be another Alice Guo,” she concluded.