Foreigner arrested in Benguet linked to Porac POGO

MANILA, Philippines — One of the foreigners arrested in an exclusive subdivision in Tuba, Benguet was a financier and operator of several scam farms, including the raided Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGO) hub in Porac, Pampanga, according to the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission.

PAOCC executive director Undersecretary Gilbert Cruz said Sun Liming, who introduced himself as Cambodian national Khuon Moeurn, is connected with the operations of Lucky South 99, an illegal POGO in Porac which was raided by law enforcement agencies due to human trafficking and other illegal activities.

“He has been identified as a financier and operator of several scam farms in the country, one of which is the raided Porac scam hub,” Cruz said in a message on Viber.

Sun and Chinese woman Wang Keping, 35, were arrested by agents of PAOCC and the Bureau of Immigration (BI) intelligence division on Saturday.

Cruz said Sun created Liming.com, a financial platform which he and his cohorts use in duping investors by claiming they had multiple contracts from the government of China.

By the time the scam was discovered last July 2023, Sun’s group had already defrauded 7.09 billion yuan from their victims.

Sun then escaped to the Philippines and used another identity in carrying out his nefarious activities.

Law enforcement agencies, including the Philippine National Police (PNP) and the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), should be ashamed for their failure to arrest Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo and others on orders of the Senate, which Senate President Francis Escudero described as “embarrassing.”

Escudero said law enforcement agencies failed to locate Guo, or Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, whom the BI confirmed is still in the country.

“My answer is yes, it’s a shame for the PNP not to be able to do this (locate Guo), especially since they are still in the country according to the BI,” Escudero told Senate reporters.

But while he admitted that the issue on the law agencies’ budget will be tackled during the national budget deliberations, Escudero disagreed with the possibility of slashing the PNP and NBI budgets for 2025 for their failure to arrest certain