ONE of the foreign nationals arrested during a raid on an alleged Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator (Pogo) on August 31, 2024 was using a Lapu-Lapu City Government-issued identification card (ID).
Authorities found an ID that showed Shouqi Zhao was a consultant for Chinese Business Promotions under the Office of the Mayor of Lapu-Lapu City.
But Mayor Junard "Ahong" Chan quickly denied on Friday, September 6, 2024, Zhao’s connection with his office, saying IDs can easily be replicated.
(That’s not true… It is easy to get an ID and if you’d look at it, it’s made of plastic. It’s very easy to create an ID these days.)
“We do not have a record that we hired (Zhao) as a consultant. As I said, we will not issue an ID if you are hired as a consultant, only the employees of the local government in Lapu-Lapu,” he added.
Mario Dennis Calvo, head of the City Human Resource Management and Development Office, said the design of the ID was the same with the one used during Chan’s first term in office. Chan also confirmed this.
(We issued IDs only to City Hall employees. IDs can now be made easily, so we cannot confirm that his ID is authentic but the design was the one used during mayor’s first term in office.)
The City Government has vowed to conduct an investigation on the matter. (DPC)