MANILA — Malacañang said authorities have tightened a nationwide manhunt for suspected human trafficking operator Cassandra Li Ong, confirming that the fugitive has not left the country despite earlier reports suggesting she may have fled abroad.
Presidential Communications Office press officer Undersecretary Claire Castro said the Department of Interior and Local Government relayed the latest update: Ong is still within Philippine borders and remains the subject of an active pursuit.
“Sa kasalukuyan, nasa Pilipinas pa po si Ms. Cassandra Ong. Patuloy pa rin po ang paghahanap sa kanya,” Castro said in a briefing.
The Department of Justice (DOJ) has offered a P1-million reward for information leading to Ong’s capture.
The bounty was announced after Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian disclosed during a Senate hearing that Ong had been released from the Correctional Institution for Women in Mandaluyong and was now “at large.”
Initial reports from the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission indicated Ong had been last detected in Japan, but investigators have since found no evidence supporting her departure from the Philippines.
Ong and several associates were ordered arrested in May by the Angeles City Regional Trial Court Branch 118 over an alleged qualified human trafficking operation tied to the scam hub Lucky South 99.
The Court of Appeals later denied Ong’s petition challenging her DOJ indictment.
Authorities said intensified tracking operations are ongoing nationwide as Ong continues to elude arrest./PN
