Alice Guo to Risa, Win: Am I the Philippines' biggest problem?

Suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo on Thursday night asked why lawmakers seemed fixated on her, indicating she was ready to face the allegations against her "in a fair trial at a proper forum."

In a statement, Guo mentioned Sen. Risa Hontiveros and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian and asked that they focus on issues such as food shortage and lack of healthcare instead of "threatening [her] with arrest."

“If they have evidence against me, I am ready to face them in a fair trial and at a proper forum. Respectfully, I do not wish to be used by anyone to boost their political ambitions,” Guo said. 

“I appeal to them to focus their attention on these problems instead of continuously threatening me with arrest and accusing me of being complicit in various Philippine Offshore Gaming Operations (POGO)-related crimes, which are untrue and unfounded,” she added. 

“Am I really the country’s biggest problem that they need to focus on? Or do they just want to project me as the antagonist/villain?” Guo said. 

Guo, who is currently suspended from her post, has been the subject of a Senate inquiry in connection with alleged illegal activities in the raided POGO in Bamban.

Senators have also questioned her identity following inconsistencies with her answers regarding her nationality and personal life. 

A Senate panel earlier ordered the issuance of an arrest order against Guo for failing to show up in the probe of the raided POGO hub in Bamban. 

However, Guo said that she was unable to attend the past hearings due to the “severe exhaustion and trauma” she had experienced in the earlier hearings and the cases filed against her. 

Death threats 

Further, Guo said that she had nothing to do with the death threats received by Gatchalian. 

She added that she also received threats since the start of the issue. 

“The news linking me to various accusations is baseless, and they are just trying to implicate me. I have nothing to do with these issues, but I am being accused of all sorts of things because I am currently at the center of public attention,” said Guo. 

The mayor also answered the claim of Gatchalian that her Chinese passport until 2011 is still active. 

“If anyone can disregard my right to privacy by prying into my personal records, they will know whether I have left the Philippines without simply asking the BID or the DFA, as I do not hold a Chinese passport,” said Guo. —NB, GMA Integrated News