Manila: Senate President Francis "Chiz" Escudero on Tuesday said foreigners who helped Alice Guo and her siblings escape should also face the consequences of the law. "I do not believe Alice Guo's assertion that no other Filipino helped her for I am of the belief that there were other personalities, possibly officials in government other than the Bureau of Immigration, who helped her," Escudero said in a statement. "However, non-Filipino actors who helped her escape should also be held to account, including the ones she had mentioned," he said. He said even if the foreigners are currently not in the country as Guo claimed, this should not stop the Philippine government "from trying to get them." About Guo allegedly receiving threats, Escudero said he tends to believe it, but noted that "it would depend on the extent of her revelations and if she will tell the whole truth." During the last public hearing of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, Guo declined to name the facilitators of their escape and asked for an executive session to give more details. However, the panel refused her request after citing the dismissed mayor in contempt for allegedly giving 'false and evasive' testimonies. 'Guo should be truthful' Meanwhile, Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros said Guo's request for an executive session would only be considered if she will be honest with her answers in the next hearing. In a separate statement, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality said they have yet to see any reason to believe that Guo would provide the panel with "factual, valuable, and reliable information" to grant her request. "Magpakatotoo siya sa susunod na pagdinig at baka sakali maniwala kaming magpapakatotoo din siya sa isang executive session (She should be truthful in the next hearing and we may believe that she would be truthful in an executive session as well)," Hontiveros said. She noted that despite the overwhelmi ng evidence presented by the panel, Guo still dared to deny that she is a Chinese national who was born in China. "Nakakainsulto na pinipilit pa rin niyang Pilipino siya (It's insulting that she keeps on insisting that she's a Filipino)," Hontiveros said. "If she cannot even tell the truth about her identity, why should we believe everything else that comes out of her mouth?" she added. During Monday's hearing, Guo maintained that her name is Alice Guo and was never named Guo Hua Ping. The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) earlier confirmed that the fingerprints of the dismissed Bamban mayor and Chinese passport holder Guo Hua Ping are the same. Unbelievable The National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) likewise doubted Guo's remarks that only foreigners assisted her in fleeing the country. 'Hindi rin po kami naniniwala na walang kasabwat even official or private person na tumulong kay Alice para makalabas. Hindi rin po namin sinasabi na BI (Bureau of Immigration), remember nakalabas siya backdoor 'yu n, hindi dumaan sa immigration point (We also do not believe that she has no cohorts, even an official or private person, who helped her escape. We're not saying it's the BI. Remember, she was able to leave via the backdoor and she did not pass through an immigration point),' NBI director Jaime Santiago said Tuesday at a forum of the Manila City Hall Reporters' Association in Ermita. Santiago also assured that the NBI agents who took photos with the dismissed mayor in Indonesia have been reprimanded and are undergoing investigation by the bureau's disciplinary board. He apologized for the lapse and vowed it would never happen again. Santiago already issued a memorandum that a repeat of the incident would be dealt with stiff disciplinary actions. 'Boss of all bosses' Meanwhile, Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada disclosed that the foreign national who reportedly facilitated the escape of the Guo siblings is the 'big boss' of all Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs). "He is a foreigner, a Chinese national, and allegedly, based from the reports that I have received, he fled the country and he is now in Taiwan," Estrada said in a press briefing. "I heard that he is the boss of all the bosses of POGO." Guo earlier refused to name the person who facilitated their escape from the Philippines going to Malaysia and Indonesia for "security reasons." Senators managed to convince her to write the name down on a piece of paper and submit it to the panel. "So, ang aking conclusion dun, malamang kaya siguro itinakas si Alice Guo papunta sa ibang bansa, baka ikanta niya itong nag-facilitate ng kanyang pagtakas (my conclusion is that Alice Guo was slipped out of the country because she might implicate this individual who also facilitated her escape)," Estrada said. Estrada, however, refused to name the foreign national, saying it is up to Hontiveros as the chairperson of the committee. When asked again if the name written by Guo on the paper is Huang Zhiyang, the senator said "most probably." In June , three Chinese nationals were arrested by authorities at the Fontana Resort in Clark, Pampanga. They were reported to be relatives of Huang Zhiyang, the Chinese fugitive who is allegedly 'the big boss of POGO hubs' in Bamban, Tarlac, and Porac, Pampanga. Probe on banks' failure Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, meanwhile, said he plans to file a resolution seeking to investigate the apparent failure of banks to flag financial transactions that may have allowed unscrupulous individuals to establish Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) linked to criminal activities. Gatchalian cited the case of Alice Guo, whose bank transactions amounted to hundreds of millions of pesos which may have enabled her to construct and established POGO hub in Bamban, Tarlac which were undetected by financial institutions, adding money laundering is one of the biggest crimes committed in the POGO hubs that were raided. 'Bakit umabot ng apat hanggang limang taon bago naimbestigahan? (Why it took up four years before it was inves tigated?). If the banks had complied with the requirements of the anti-money laundering law, this would have been nipped in the bud,' Gatchalian said in a news release. "Money laundering is one of the biggest crimes committed in the POGO hubs that were raided," he added. Gatchalian said companies set up by the Guo family, such as QJJ Farms and QJJ Embroidery, were likely used as conduits for money laundering to fund the construction of the POGO hub in Bamban, estimated to have cost over PHP6 billion. He said bank transactions involving Guo companies amounted to hundreds of millions of pesos -far beyond what their financial statements indicated as their financial capacity. 'If you examine the financial statements of Guo-related businesses, including their tax returns, you won't be able to trace where the money came from. For me, this is a classic case of money laundering, as we cannot detect the source of funds,' he said. Gatchalian highlighted the money laundering case that the Anti-Money Laundering Coun cil (AMLC) filed against Guo and 35 others. The case involves funds, initially intended to pay Baofu Land Development's electricity bills, which were systematically laundered through multiple bank accounts to conceal their illicit origins. Baofu is the property developer that owns the land where the POGO hub in Bamban was constructed. 'The bigger crime is how they were able to erect buildings, and we still don't know how the money came in. I'm sure the same thing happened in the Porac POGO hub,' Gatchalian said. In addition to the Bamban POGO, the AMLC is also looking into bank compliance issues related to the POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga. (with Ferdinand Patinio/Leonel Abasola/PNA) Source: Philippines News agency
