Senator backs executive session for Alice Guo

MANILA, Philippines — Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito is inclined to support the request of dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo for an executive session to get more information about her bosses in what appeared to be an international crime ring.

Ejercito, a member of the Senate committee on women, children and family affairs, said he and other senators would try hard to squeeze Guo for information about Philippine offshore gaming
 operators (POGOs) and her escape in mid-July.

“She is requesting for an executive session. I think she is just a pawn in a bigger web of an international syndicate. I hope that if we give her an executive session she can point out who is really behind the POGOs,” Ejercito said in an interview yesterday over dzBB.

The Senate ordered Guo’s arrest after she and her supposed siblings, Shiela and Wesley, failed to attend the series of public hearings of the Senate committee on women looking into alleged POGO-related crimes like scamming and human trafficking.

While he is inclined to support Guo’s request, Ejercito said Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the committee chairperson, cautioned that information obtained in executive session cannot be divulged to the public.

Ejercito said senators would discuss whether to make public the name of the individual written by Guo on a sheet of paper, who allegedly owns a yacht and assisted her in escape.

He noted such a move “can also be at the discretion of the Senate committee chairperson. That’s why she put (the name on the paper) because she is also afraid for her life.”

Ejercito noted, “(We want to know) who helped her to enter politics. What if China is already feeding us, they are entering like this? How did she get in? How did she enter the politics in Tarlac?”

But he said he could not believe that no Filipino helped them escape. “For those who made a way, there is definitely a Filipino. That’s why I told PAOCC (Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission) not to immediately conclude because the real way (of escaping) is covered.”

“For example, the DOJ (Department of Justice) and the NBI (National Bureau of Investigation) have different theories, through the backdoor. We must conclude if we are really sure of our facts. We are not sure yet because the DOJ and NBI are looking at the backdoor in Bongao. That’s why we look at all the flights during that period, the yacht (story) might just be a diversion, we should not be closed (to other theories),” Ejercito said.

Former senator Panfilo Lacson earlier said the intelligence community may need to take a deeper look not only into the background of Guo but also the connections of the mayor whose fingerprints matched Chinese national Guo Hua Ping’s due to the potential risk to national security.

Lacson voiced concerns that Guo, if not exposed by the PAOCC in her illegal activities including the possibility that she is a spy, could have the resources to run for congresswoman or even higher office – and have access to sensitive documents in the Philippine government.

“Testimonials coming from her former constituents were one in saying that she’s governing well in Bamban, Tarlac. It cannot be ruled out that if she gets out of her issues now, she might run for congresswoman. And if she were a foreign spy, that is bad for us because as a member of Congress, she would have access to highly classified documents due to her high-security clearance,” he said.