Acorda photos with key POGO players bared

MANILA, Philippines — Former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief Benjamin Acorda Jr. has been invited to the next hearing of the Senate investigating crimes linked to Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGOs).

Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the presiding officer and chairperson of the Senate committee on women, children and family affairs, said she was hopeful that the POGO investigation would end today, but new revelations “warrant further investigations with individuals whose side needs to be heard in the interest of fairness,” prompting her to invite Acorda to the next hearing.

She presented some photos of the former PNP chief with persons linked to illegal POGOs, including Tony Yang, the elder brother of Michael Yang, a former presidential economic adviser of former president Rodrigo Duterte.

She confronted Tony Yang, also known as Yang Jianxin, about a photograph in which he was with three others including Acorda.

“Can you explain this photo? Is that a meeting? Who are the companions and what did you talk about?” Hontiveros asked.

Through an interpreter, Yang explained that it was not a meeting but they just visited Acorda, who was the police chief of Cagayan de Oro City at that time.

In the second photo, Tony was with Acorda while the latter was the regional police director of Region 10 or Northern Mindanao.

Tony admitted that he and Acorda have known each other for a long time.

Hontiveros also revealed he has a warrant of arrest in China for fraud.

She turned to Sual, Pangasinan Mayor Liseldo Calugay to identify a photo where he was with Acorda and several other personalities including Wesley Guo, a brother of dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo.

Calugay answered Acorda once served as chief of police of Sual.

Hontiveros asked Calugay, Alice and Cassandra Li Ong about why Wesley joined during a visit to Acorda, in which the Sual mayor claimed he just wanted to see the former top cop.

Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. senior vice president Raul Villanueva had previously tagged a former PNP chief for being included in Alice Guo’s payroll and helping the dismissed mayor escape the Philippines. He did not reveal any names in his statement.

However, he admitted