CASSANDRA Ong, facing qualified human trafficking charges, may have returned to China, according to Interior and Local Government Secretary Jonvic Remulla.
“Our theory is that she’s in China, she returned to China. She is not in the Philippines,” Remulla stated in an interview. “We checked her travel records. She is not here. So our theory is that she returned to Fujian, China where she came from.”
Remulla expressed pessimism about the possibility of Chinese cooperation in capturing Ong, citing the lack of a repatriation agreement between the Philippines and China, the precedent set by the 1MDB case, and ongoing tensions in the West Philippine Sea. “China is a one-way street. They only work to their advantage. So in this case, I’m not hopeful that they will cooperate with us,” he said.
Remulla’s statement contradicts an earlier assertion by Malacañang that Ong was still in the Philippines.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has offered a P1 million reward for information leading to Ong’s location. Ong is a business associate of Lucky South 99, a company allegedly operating a scam hub, and is among over 50 people charged with qualified human trafficking in connection with the case.
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