Senate panel to hold executive session about Alice Guo —Hontiveros

The Senate women, children, family relations, and gender equality committee is set to conduct an executive session with representatives from the executive department and intelligence agencies to further investigate if Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo has a role in the raided Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) hub in the town.

Interviewed on Unang Balita on Monday, panel chairperson Senator Risa Hontiveros said that the executive session will be held before the third public hearing and while the second regular session of the 19th Congress is in adjournment sine die.

“Meron tayong mga executive departments at agencies, kasama na ang mga intel agencies, na mas gusto pang magbahagi sa aming komite pero hindi pa nila magawa in open hearing. Gagawa kami ng isang executive session ngayong mga panahong ito,” Hontiveros said.

(We have executive departments and agencies, including intel agencies, that want to participate in our committee probe but could not divulge anything yet in open hearing. We will be holding an executive session around this time.)

“Sa palagay ko sa executive session na ‘yan, mas maraming lalabas talaga at mae-establish tungkol sa kanyang koneksyon sa POGO, sa criminal connections, at pati sa kanyang hindi mapaliwanag na kayamanan,” she added.

(I think in that executive session, more information will come out and will be established about Guo’s connection with POGO, her criminal connections, and also her unexplained wealth.)

Guo's identity is currently under scrutiny by the Senate panel as it investigates the illegal activities at a POGO hub in Bamban which was raided in March this year. This 10-hectare compound of Zun Yuan Technology Incorporated was located in the Baofu compound just behind the Bamban municipal hall.

Subsequent investigation revealed documents linking Guo to the POGO establishment, which she had denied.

Asked if Guo will be participating in the executive session, Hontiveros said she prefers if the local official will be there.

“Posibleng ganon, posibleng hindi rin. Depende sa aming mapa-finalize sa mga tanong na ihaharap sa executive agencies na ‘yan. Pero kung sa akin lang, mas posibleng imbitado siya, pero piling-pili ang mga resource persons,” the lawmaker said.

(She may be invited to participate or not. It depends on what we will be able to finalize based on the questions that will be asked of the executive agencies. But for me, I prefer her to be invited, but the resource persons would be limited.)

Hontiveros said that what will transpire during the executive session will be the basis for the next Senate hearing. She also expects to come up with more solid findings and recommendations on their committee report regarding the investigation.

During the last hearing on Wednesday, Hontiveros revealed that Guo's supposed parents — who were both declared as "Filipinos” — do not have birth records in the Philippine Statistics Authority (PSA).

PSA legal service director Eliezer Ambatali said there was a "high possibility" that Angelito Guo and Amelia Leal—the names which appeared in Guo's late-registration birth certificate—did not exist.

Guo also said she was initially not aware of the criminal records of her foreign business partners, claiming she only learned about it through social media.

Hontiveros, citing Baofu Land Development Inc.'s 2019 Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) documents, earlier noted that Baofu's incorporators included Guo, Rachel Joan Malonzo Carreon, a Filipino; Zhiyang Huang, a Cypriot; Zhang Ruijin, a Chinese; and Baoying Lin, a Dominican. —KG, GMA Integrated News