Alice Guo cited in contempt for 2nd time by Senate panel

The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality on Monday cited dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo in contempt for the second time by for allegedly continuing to lie before the senators.

This was after Guo, whose fingerprints matched those of Chinese national Guo Hua Ping, repeatedly refused to answer the senators' questions related to her true identity.

"Alice Guo is continuing to lie to this committee despite glaring evidence that she is a Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping, whose father Jian Zhong Guo is Chinese based on her own declaration in this committee, and whose mother Lin Wen Yi is also Chinese based on her own declarations in bank documents by the way verified by the AMLC," Senator Risa Hontiveros, chairperson of the panel, said.

"This is a blatant defiance of the legislative's constitutional power of inquiry. Lumalabas na pinaglalaruan mo ang aming batas at pinapaikot mo ang  mga Pilipino, pero ibahin mo ang Senado," she added.

Hontiveros then moved to cite Guo in contempt of the Senate "for testifying falsely and evasively" before the committee. The motion was seconded by Senator Joel Villanueva.

Born in PH

During the hearing, Guo insisted that she was born in Tarlac and not in China. 

“Ang alam ko po I was born in Tarlac (What I know is that I was born in Tarlac),” she said, in response to Hontiveros' questions.

Guo, however, refused to confirm that she is Guo Hua Ping despite the findings of the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) regarding her fingerprints.

“Honestly, hindi ko po alam kung paano nangyari. Basta alam ko alam ko ako po si Alice Guo. At pasensya na rin po kung hindi kayo naniniwala,” she told the committee.

(Honestly, I don't know how it happened. I just know that I am Alice Guo. And I'm sorry if you don't believe me.)

Guo's evasive answers to the questions irked senators, with Hontiveros saying they are starting to lose their patience.

This is the first time that Guo appeared at the Senate investigation after she fled the country in July.

Guo, who is facing human trafficking complaints, among others, last attended a Senate hearing on May 22. She illegally left the country in July and was apprehended in Indonesia and brought back to the Philippines last week. She is detained at the PNP Custodial Center inside Camp Crame.

Escape via boats

Also during Monday's hearing, Guo confirmed that she and her companions left the Philippines via boats, one of which was a yacht. However, she refused to divulge to the public the name of the person who facilitated their trip and the owner of the yacht. What she only recalled was that the yacht has "wings" stickers and numbers on it.

The Bureau of Immigration (BI), in a statement, said Guo's passport has no immigration stamp, meaning she left the country illegally.

Guo also denied having a relationship with Sual, Pangasinan Mayor Liseldo Calugay, and that the two of them owned an aquafarm named “Alisel Aqua Farm.” 

The former mayor is being linked to the operations of an illegal POGO hub that was raided by law enforcement authorities in Bamban.

In July, the Senate ordered Guo and her other family members’ arrest for repeatedly failing to attend the upper chamber’s investigation into the raided POGO hub in her town.  —KBK, GMA Integrated News