ACCOMPLICES Dismissed Bamban, TarlacMayor Alice Guo, on the orders of senators during a hearing on Monday, writes down the names of people who helped her flee the country in July. She appealed to senators not to divulge the names in public, citing death threats she has been receiving. —Richard A. Reyes
MANILA, Philippines — Senator Sherwin Gatchalian revealed on Monday that nearly P5 billion in cash and checks were deposited in the personal bank accounts of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, and two of her companies from 2018 to 2024.
Guo was grilled by lawmakers at the resumption of the Senate hearing on the illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (Pogos).
Senator Gatchalian confronted Guo with bank records and financial documents that his office had obtained showing that she was an “active participant” in the establishment of the Pogo hub in her town that authorities raided and closed down in March.
According to the senator, the disgraced mayor and her business associates had also contracted a “fly-by-night” Chinese construction company to build the 36 multistory buildings on the 7.9-hectare land owned by Baofu Land Development Inc., which Guo formerly headed as its president.
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According to the senator, the disgraced mayor and her business associates had also contracted a “fly-by-night” Chinese construction company to build the 36 multistory buildings on the 7.9-hectare land owned by Baofu Land Development Inc., which Guo formerly headed as its president.
“The documents we discovered prove that Guo Hua Ping is not an ordinary personality in this Pogo hub,” Gatchalian said, using Guo’s supposed real Chinese identity.
“She had an active participation from the start all the way when she became mayor. These pieces of evidence are very strong. Even if you refuse to talk, it will speak for itself,” he told Guo.
Threats, cases
Surrounded by a bevy of lawyers, Guo issued blanket denials and cited the criminal cases she was already facing in refusing to answer Gatchalian’s queries on the intricate “layering of funds” that she allegedly crafted to bankroll the Pogo facility.
She also repeatedly claimed that the reported threats on her life constrained her to limit her responses to even the basic questions that the senators asked about her real identity and her alleged links with Pogos.
Besides the illegal gambling facility in Bamban, authorities said the sacked local official was also involved in the operations of a similar Pogo complex in Porac, Pampanga.
Wearing a bulletproof vest over a yellow prison garb, Guo appeared pensive as she returned to testify at the hearing of the Senate committee on women, children, family relations, and gender equality headed by Sen. Risa Hontiveros.
At times, she stared blankly at the TV monitor in front of her, a stark contrast from the jovial mood she had shown when she was fetched by Interior Secretary Benhur Abalos a day after she was arrested in Indonesia on Sept. 4.
“I invoke my right (against self-incrimination) because I already have a pending case of human trafficking related to that issue. I will not answer that here,” Guo said when Gatchalian asked her about the financial transactions of QC Genetics Inc. and QJJ Farms Inc., which both listed her as president.
No involvement
As in her previous testimonies, the dismissed mayor said she could not remember if she was indeed involved in the financial transactions that Gatchalian cited.
“I’m sticking with my statement that I am not involved in Pogo,” she maintained.
But Gatchalian said records showed that a total of P1.9 billion in cash and check deposits were made to Guo’s personal bank accounts over six years.
On the other hand, he said, more than P3 billion in bank deposits were recorded in QJJ Farms’ accounts during the same time.
In addition, Gatchalian said Guo had paid for the electric bills of Baofu amounting to several millions of pesos from the bank accounts of QJJ and QC Genetics.
“Like what we have been hearing, you claim you have no participation (in Pogos). Based on the documents, you are an active participant,” the senator noted.
Real identity
Presiding over the proceedings, Hontiveros quizzed Guo on her identity and nationality, reiterating that the biometric evidence they had gathered showed that her fingerprints were the same as those of Guo Hua Ping.
“Can you finally confirm that you are Guo Hua Ping? For your own sake, for one last time, (answer) this very simple, fundamental question,” Hontiveros asked Guo.
Guo, who is also being suspected as a Chinese spy, initially refused to answer, pointing out that it might affect a pending case against her in the Commission on Elections.
“I am Alice Guo… From what I know, I was born in Tarlac, Tarlac,” she insisted.
But Hontiveros reminded Guo that the fingerprint analysis conducted by the National Bureau of Investigation and other official government documents showed that she was not the person she claimed to be.
“We have proven that you are not Alice Guo and you are really Guo Hua Ping,” the senator retorted.
“[You] continue to lie to this committee despite the glaring evidence that [you are] a Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping, whose father, Jian Zhong Guo, is Chinese… and whose mother, Lin Wenyi, is also Chinese,” she added.
Custodial issue
Meanwhile, Senate Majority Leader Francis Tolentino argued that the chamber should have custody of Guo, who was being held at the headquarters of the Philippine National Police in Camp Crame based on the commitment order issued by a regional trial court (RTC) in Capas, Tarlac.
Tolentino, a lawyer, said the Office of the Ombudsman should not have filed the two counts of graft against Guo in Capas based on a circular issued by the Supreme Court regarding the jurisdiction of RTCs involving cases brought against local government officials.
The Capas court issued an arrest warrant against Guo the same day she was arrested in Jakarta.
She refused to post bail in an apparent legal maneuver to avoid being detained at the Senate.
Hontiveros, however, ruled that Guo would remain under PNP custody in deference to the order issued by the Capas court.
“But if she posts bail, she will be taken to the Senate,” she said.