No fair hearing expected at Senate inquiry — Mayor Guo's camp

MANILA, Philippines — Legal counsel of Bamban Mayor Alice Guo said they do not expect a fair hearing at the Senate in view of the resumption of the investigation on Wednesday.

In an interview with dzBB, lawyer Stephen David said the mayor’s attending physicians refused to issue a medical certificate for fear of being invited to the inquiry of the upper chamber.

“Actually, she has a lot of medical consultations but the doctors refused to issue medical certificates as they were afraid to be summoned by the Senate. That’s their job but they don’t want to do it,” David said.

David has said that Guo is still suffering from “trauma” and is not keen on attending the hearing on July 10.

Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian has warned that Guo could be arrested if she fails to attend the hearing.

“If they (senators) will not listen to the medical report, we cannot do anything. That’s their right,” David said, referring to the threat of arrest. “She has a problem. The doctor gave her medication.”

“If you have such a problem, will you not suffer from stress? You will also choose to stay inside the room and just cry,” David added.

The defense lawyer maintained that the courts have yet to determine the veracity of the documents presented by the National Bureau of Investigation, after it declared in its dactyloscopy report that the fingerprints of Guo and that of Chinese Guo Hua Ping are identical, establishing that they are the same person.

“I wonder if after 30 years they saw a document. Does the government have an archive for that? What I know is that after five to 10 years, they burn the documents,” David said.

He added that he is ready to cross-examine the documents against Guo once presented in court.

“(Senators) are already closed in their beliefs. We cannot do something about that. But in court, we expect a fair trial. We will examine all the documents to be presented in court. We will determine the source,” David said.

According to David, the camp of Guo will also ensure the liability of people who were behind the documents.

“If these (documents) are not true, they will pay for it. We just want the truth to prevail. We don’t want injustice, accuse a person with baseless allegations,” he said.

At the same time, David questioned the plan of the Office of the Solicitor General to file a quo warranto petition against  Guo.

“If I were the OSG, I will not file that as it is premature. You are still questioning her citizenship, her birth certificate and yet you want to file a quo warranto petition. How can you say that when it has yet to be filed in court, it is Tarlac, the issue of citizenship,” he added. — Bella Cariaso, Mayen Jaymalin, Louise Maureen Simeon