Gatchalian: No new info from Alice Guo in latest executive session

Dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo did not divulge any new information during the October 8 executive session at the Senate, Senator Sherwin Gatchalian said Sunday.

During the latest executive session which lasted nearly two hours, Gatchalian said he was expecting to know if there were any government employees that helped Guo or if there were other personalities involved in the operations of illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country, but the former mayor revealed no such.

“Personally, wala akong nakuhang bago. Lahat ng kanyang nasabi ay halos lahat ay lumabas naman sa hearing,” the lawmaker said in a Super Radyo dzBB interview.

(Personally, I saw nothing new. Almost everything she said during the executive session already came out during the public hearing.)

“Kaya hindi ko masasabi na meron akong, personal ha, meron akong nakuhang bago na pwedeng gamitin at pwedeng gamitin para matukoy natin kung sino itong mga nasa likod ng POGO,” he added.

(From a personal standpoint, I cannot say if we learned anything new that we can use to identify who are the people behind the POGO.)

With this development, Gatchalian believes that Guo should not be granted another executive session if she requests again for one.

He said Guo just repeatedly denied the accusations that she is linked with illegal POGO operations—a matter which she already said during the public hearings.

“Ganoon ‘yung sinabi niya sa open hearing. Sa executive session, ganon rin ‘yung kanyang tono. Kaya para sa akin, wala akong nakuha na kakaiba sa pagitan ng open hearing at sa executive session,” Gatchalian said.

(That's what she said at the open hearing and her tone was the same during the executive session. So for me, I didn't see anything different between the open hearing and the executive session.)

“May mga ibang detalye na hindi ko lang masabi. But overall, sa ang aking pag-analisa, kumbaga hindi malaman ‘yung aming nakuha,” he continued.

(There are other details that I just can't say. But based on my overall analysis, what we got was not that big.)

Gatchalian’s take on the latest executive session was contrary to the statement of Senator JV Ejercito who said that “new names” and new pieces of information were tackled by Guo.

For Ejercito, the senators should be patient with Guo as he noted that the dismissed mayor is also "scared for her life."

The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality conducted the first executive session with Guo on September 24 to allow her to divulge details that she refused to disclose during the public hearing.

Back then, Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros said that the dismissed mayor corroborated the panel's theory involving a "crucial personality" in the operations of illegal POGOs. —RF, GMA Integrated News