Senators blast big intel funds amid ‘great shame’ of Alice Guo escape

At least two senators hit the hundreds of millions of pesos in intelligence funds allocated to law enforcement agencies as the Senate justice and human rights subcommittee investigated dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo's escape from the Philippines.

In the early part of the hearing, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian emphasized the "shame" that Guo's escape has brought on the Philippines—a departure that several agencies only learned of from Senator Risa Hontiveros's privilege speech.

"Napakalaking kahihiyan ito para sa ating bansa na nakatakas si Guo Hua Ping, a.k.a. Alice Guo, na wala pong nakakaalam until binigay ninyo po sa inyong privilege speech na wala na pala siya dito sa ating bansa," he said.

(This is a great shame for our country that Guo Hua Ping, also known as Alice Guo, was able to escape and nobody knew about it until it was revealed in a privilege speech that she is no longer in our country.)

"Kaya yung mga katanungan po ng ating mga kasamahan, paano nangyari ito? At nasaan na ngayon si Guo Hua Ping? Ang ating mga ahensya, meron ho silang mga sariling budget sa intelligence funds. Itong intelligence at confidential funds ay dapat ginagamit po para malaman ho natin yung galaw ng mga kriminal at galaw ng mga taong may sala po sa ating pamahalaan," he added.

(What our colleagues are asking is, how did this happen? And where is Guo Hua Ping now? Our agencies have their own budgets for intelligence funds. These intelligence and confidential funds should be used to track the movements of criminals and individuals who have committed offenses against our government.)

According to Gatchalian, the intelligence funds allocated to agencies includes P20 million to the Bureau of Immigration, P175 million to the National Bureau of Investigation, and P906 million to the Philippine National Police.

"Dapat ho nagamit ito sa paghahanap nitong mga taong ito. At dapat naalerto rin yung mga intelligence assets natin. Dahil hangga’t ngayon, mystery pa ho, misteryo pa rin ho ngayon, kung paano nakatakas si Guo Hua Ping galing ho sa Pilipinas papuntang Indonesia," he said.

(These funds should have been utilized in searching for these people. Our intelligence assets should have been alerted. Because until now, it remains a mystery how Guo Hua Ping managed to escape from the Philippines to Indonesia.)

Gatchalian also brought up the matter of the approximately 2,000 workers in a raided POGO hub in Porac Pampanga who managed to escape arrest.

Senator Joel Villanueva likewise decried the lack of detailed information from each law enforcement agency regarding their investigations on Guo's escape.

"Sa budget deliberations, papakita na naman nating itong saksakan ng daming [once again we're going to see these huge] intelligence funds, border control management funds, et cetera. We wanted to make sure the these are being used properly," he said.

Villanueva said the law enforcement agencies should inform the Senate of the loopholes that they identified based on Guo's case so the government can ensure that the system is foolproof.

On the other hand, Senate Minority Leader Aquilino "Koko" Pimentel III lauded the Philippine National Police's Intelligence Group, saying they made good use of these intelligence funds of good use as they were the ones who provided information to the Bureau of Immigration on Guo's escape.

"'Yan ang magandang example ng paggamit ng intelligence funds...Kasi against ako sa intelligence funds actually. Pagdating sa budget season, pwede niyo maipagmayabang sa amin 'yan when I asked you how the PNP uses its P900 million pesos intelligence fund," Pimentel said.

(That's a great example of using intelligence funds wisely...Because, to be honest, I'm against intelligence funds. When the budget season arrives, you can proudly show us how the PNP utilizes its P900-million peso intelligence fund when I ask you about it.)

Guo's escape was first divulged by Senator Risa Hontiveros through a privilege speech last August 19. Philippine authorities later on confirmed that the dismissed mayor had already left the country.

BI Commissioner Norman Tansingco acknowledged that the bureau had learned of Guo's departure days earlier from the PNP, and said that it had not made the announcement itself as it was still confirming the information by the time of Hontiveros's speech.

Tansingco said that Guo was reported to be in Jakarta, Indonesia last August 26. — BM, GMA Integrated News