Senate summons Guo, but subpoena not received

MANILA, Philippines — The Senate has summoned suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo to a hearing this July 10, but a helper at her farm refused to accept the subpoena, saying he does not know the other persons named in the document.

In a report on July 4, Senate Sergeant-at-Arms Roberto Ancan said they served the subpoena for Guo and her siblings at the farm in Barangay Virgen delos Remedios in Bamban, Tarlac, but only farm helper Jerry Baltazar Carpio was present.

Carpio reportedly said the mayor has not visited the farm for weeks and that he has no idea of her whereabouts.

The helper also claimed that he does not know Guo’s supposed siblings Sheila, Wesley and Jian, hence he refused to receive the subpoena.

The Senate committee on women, children and family relations subpoenaed Guo to appear at tomorrow’s hearing on allegations of human trafficking, fraud and cyber operations linked to a Philippine offshore gaming operator or POGO hub in the province.

“If she doesn’t honor the subpoena, the Senate is well within its rights to issue an arrest order. Had she attended the hearing on Wednesday, there would have been no more drama. Mayor Alice Guo, the truth will give you peace of mind,” said Sen. Risa Hontiveros, the committee chair.

Following this, the subpoena was sent to the David Jamilla Law Office, which represents Guo. The law office clarified though that they are only representing the mayor and that they have no connection with the other members of her family.

Meanwhile, the Commission on Elections is forming a fact-finding committee to look into the candidacy of Guo during the May 2022 elections.

Comelec Chairman George Garcia said he directed the legal department to form the body to investigate Guo’s candidacy “in view of public interest in the controversy surrounding Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.”

Garcia said the committee should determine whether there was material misrepresentation in her certificate of candidacy that would warrant the filing of an election offense case.

He also ordered the committee to coordinate with the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI), Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) and Senate in the gathering of evidence.

The committee, according to Garcia, may also conduct a technical analysis of documents containing the fingerprints of Guo to determine her culpability.

No fair hearing

Stephen David, Guo’s legal counsel, yesterday 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, he 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 NBI, 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 OSG 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.

POGO ban

Finance Secretary Ralph Recto yesterday said the government should not pin its hopes on the Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) as he made a final recommendation to ban the industry.

On the sidelines of the Economic Journalists Association of the Philippines-San Miguel Corp. economic forum, Recto said he has already endorsed to President Marcos the recommendation to ban POGOs in the country.

“I think we have done it already. With regard to the DOF (Department of Finance), we are not in favor of POGOs,” Recto told reporters. “Even those licensed ones who are not doing anything bad, I suppose, in general, I don’t think we have to pin our hopes on POGOs.”

“Frankly, I’m not a fan of gambling. Second, I’m not a fan of POGOs, really… If they were not doing anything hanky-panky and they’re paying taxes, it would have been fine with me. But I think there are many issues surrounding the industry so I recommended that we don’t continue with it,” Recto said.

Data from the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. showed that the government stands to lose at least P20 billion annually with the POGO ban.

It was estimated that the industry’s contribution to gross domestic product (GDP) continued to be negligible and remained at around 0.2 percent last year. This is slightly below the 0.3 percent in 2022 and is a further decline from the 0.7 percent contribution to GDP during the POGO peak in 2019. — Bella Cariaso, Mayen Jaymalin, Louise Maureen Simeon