MANILA – Dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo has been cited in contempt anew by the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality for allegedly continuing to lie before the senators.
Senate panel chair Risa Hontiveros said the second contempt against Guo was due to the former mayor “testifying falsely and evasively” before the committee.
“Alice Guo is continuing to lie to this committee despite glaring evidence that she is a Chinese national named Guo Hua Ping, whose father Jian Zhong Guo is Chinese based on her own declaration in this committee, and whose mother Lin Wen Yi is also Chinese based on her own declarations in bank documents by the way verified by the AMLC,” Hontiveros said.
“This is a blatant defiance of the legislative’s constitutional power of inquiry. Lumalabas na pinaglalaruan mo ang aming batas at pinapaikot mo ang mga Pilipino, pero ibahin mo ang Senado,” she added.
Guo’s custody, however, will remain with the Philippine National Police due to the warrant of arrest issued against her by a regional trial court in Capas, Tarlac for violation of the Anti-Graft and Corruption Practices Act.
If ever Guo will post bail to her case in Capas, the dismissed mayor will be brought to Senate custody due to the contempt order issued against her.
Earlier in the hearing, Guo insisted that she was born in Tarlac and not in China, while she refused to answer if she is Guo Hua Ping despite various evidences.
“Ang alam ko po I was born in Tarlac,” Guo said, in response to Hontiveros’ questions.
“Honestly, hindi ko po alam kung paano nangyari. Basta alam ko po ako si Alice Guo. At pasensya na rin po kung hindi kayo naniniwala,” she told the committee.
Guo, who is facing human trafficking complaints, among others, is being linked to the operations of an illegal POGO hub that was raided by law enforcement authorities in Bamban.
In July, the Senate ordered Guo and her other family members’ arrest for repeatedly failing to attend the upper chamber’s investigation into the raided POGO hub in her town./PN
