PAOCC probing Chinese nationals in local posts

MANILA, Philippines — The Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) has started its probe on reports that Chinese nationals other than dismissed Bamban mayor Alice Guo are occupying local elective posts.

PAOCC executive director Gilbert Cruz said yesterday they are receiving messages from concerned citizens about local elected officials who appear to be foreigners.

The PAOCC is taking extra precautions in its probe, Cruz said, as their investigation should not be solely based on officials’ nationality.

“We need to validate because we will be unfair if we say that because the official has a Chinese name, that’s the situation,” he said.

Sen. JV Ejercito raised the issue on Wednesday in a news forum, saying he has met local officials in the provinces who do not look and sound like members of the Filipino-Chinese community.

He urged the Commission on Elections (Comelec) to be more watchful for candidates pretending to be Filipinos from running in next year’s elections.

Cruz said it is possible there are other officials like Guo in the country, noting a recent investigation that uncovered the issuance of thousands of birth certificates in Davao del Sur.

He said around 1,000 Chinese citizens acquired new identities through fraudulent birth certificates. “So over 1,000 are being probed just on birth certificates in one province,” Cruz said.

No more executive session with Guo

There will be no more executive sessions with Guo after senators lamented her lack of cooperation about questions on being an alleged Chinese spy, according to Sen. Risa Hontiveros.

Hontiveros said she was dissatisfied with the two closed-door sessions which Guo had requested, citing threats to her life.

“More than one-hour executive session and yet it was not completely worth it. She did not say anything new,” Hontiveros said.

“It is worth the time of the committee as well as of the public if we dedicate the last hearing to find out the truth about Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGO),” she added.

Textbook scam suspect Mary Ann Maslog would again be invited, although she earned the ire of senators at the last hearing for her incredible story that she helped the Philippine National Police Intelligence Group in facilitating Guo’s surrender.

The Senate would also look into unverified information that it was Maslog who helped Guo flee to Indonesia, Hontiveros added.

The senator renewed her call for Philippine authorities to coordinate with their counterparts in Thailand to secure the testimony of detained self-confessed Chinese spy She Zhijiang, who tagged Guo as a fellow spook.

She’s friend and cellmate Wang Fu Gui spoke in a virtual interview with Hontiveros’ staff for the hearings and said Guo’s campaign “was arranged by Chinese state security,” bolstering allegations that Guo was a Chinese asset.

Maslog’s links

Cruz added that they will probe Sen. Ronald dela Rosa’s claim that someone from Malacañang ordered Maslog to have Guo sign an affidavit linking former president Rodrigo Duterte, Dela Rosa, Sen. Bong Go and former Criminal Investigation and Detection Group director Maj. Gen. Romeo Caramat Jr. to illegal POGOs.

During the resumption of the public hearing on Tuesday, Dela Rosa confronted Maslog and warned her that he has credible “A1” information that she has prepared an affidavit for Guo at the behest of a person from Malacañang.

Cruz, for his part, said Maslog is not credible given her background where she faked her own death and assumed the name Jessica Francisco to evade the cases against her in connection with the 1999 textbook anomaly.

Escape via private airstrip?

The Bureau of Immigration (BI) said it is exploring the possibility that Guo might have left the country via a private airstrip when she escaped to Malaysia.

In an interview with GMA 7 yesterday, BI spokesperson Dana Sandoval said that based on their analysis, Guo might not have used an international airport or seaport to leave the country.

This deviates from Guo’s earlier statement that she, along with claimed siblings Shiela Guo and Wesley Guo, boarded boats and even a yacht that took them to Malaysia.

Sandoval said that they will file appropriate complaints against those who aided Guo in leaving the country

BI Commissioner Joel Anthony Viado told the Senate in a recent hearing that Guo took a flight to Malaysia and landed on July 18. –  Evelyn Macairan, Marc Jayson Cayabyab