MANILA – The alleged accountant of suspended Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo was the first to be arrested after the Senate issued an arrest order for their failure to attend the upper chamber’s investigation into the raided POGO (Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators) hub in her town.
Nancy Jimenez Gamo was brought to the Senate premises in Pasay City on Saturday evening where she will stay pending the resumption of the Senate inquiry.
Guo, Gamo, Dennis Lacson Cunanan, the mayor’s alleged relatives Sheila Leal Guo, Wesley Leal Guo, Jian Zhong Guo, Seimen L. Guo, and Wenyi Lin were issued an arrest warrant by the Senate on Saturday.
Based on the Senate order, Guo should be detained at the Senate’s Office of the Sergeant-at-Arms (OSAA) “until such time that she will appear and testify in the Committee, or otherwise purges herself of that contempt.”
Guo was ordered detained for “unduly refusing to appear, despite due notices, at the hearings of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality on June 26, 2024 and July 10, 2024, and thereby delaying, impeding and obstructing the inquiry into the reported violation of human trafficking, serious illegal detention, and physical abuse and torture in the premises of an internet gaming licensee of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp and other related resolutions.”
Guo’s lawyer Atty. Nicole Jamilla, meanwhile, said the Bamban mayor’s camp “has not received this Order but we already anticipated the issuance of this Order after [the] Mayor was held in contempt.”
“As we already filed a Petition before the Supreme Court, we are hoping that the Court will give due course to our Petition considering this supervening issuance of Order of Arrest,” Jamilla said.
Guo’s camp has filed a petition before the Supreme Court asking to annul the Subpoena Ad Testificandum issued by the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality.
The Senate committee, chaired by Hontiveros, is investigating Guo’s supposed involvement in the illegal POGO hub that was raided in Bamban town in Tarlac.
Guo’s citizenship is also being questioned due to her inconsistent testimonies about her background and the supposed dubious documents regarding her Filipino citizenship./PN
