SENATE President Francis Escudero yesterday urged the legal team of suspended Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo to advise her to attend the Senate hearings if they want their problems with the Committee on Women to end.
Escudero issued the statement after Guo sent him a letter apologizing for her comment on her Facebook account last week that Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros, who chairs the committee; Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, and other senators “seem fixated on me” and are apparently using the Senate inquiry to “boost their political ambitions.”
In the letter dated July 20 and received by Escudero’s office last Monday, Guo apologized to the Senate leader for the statement.
“Wala po akong intensiyon na pagsabihan o diktahan ang Senado kung ano ang mga dapat bigyang prayoridad. Nauunawaan ko po na ang bawat mambabatas ay may sariling tungkulin at responsibilidad sa bayan (I have no intention to dictate on what the Senate should prioritize. I understand that each lawmaker has a responsibility to the country),” Guo said.
She claimed she has been treated as a “convicted criminal” rather than a resource person each time she attended the committee hearing, taking away her right to be presumed innocent until otherwise proven by a court of law.
“Sa aking karanasan, pagkatapos ng bawat pagdinig sa Senado, nagiging sentro ako ng negatibong posts sa social media na para bang ako ay isa nang convicted criminal at hindi isang resource person sa tema ng mga pahayag at patutsada ng mga senador na dumidinig sa issue ko at ng POGO (After each hearing, I become the center of negative posts on social media which make it look like I am a convicted criminal instead of a resource person, all because of the statements and insinuations of the senators hearing the issues against me and the POGOs),” she said.
Guo asked Escudero to allow her to defend herself in the “proper forum,” in effect asking for her contempt citation to be lifted so she could continue to serve the people of Bamban.
“Batid ko pong bilang isang abogado, nauunawaan ninyo ang kahalagahan ng ‘presumption of innocence’ at ang pangangailangang irespeto ang karapatan ng bawat indibidwal habang ummusad ang imbestigasyon. Handa po akong harapin ang ibat-ibang kaso laban sa akin sa mga tanggapan ng gobyerno tulad ng Ombudsman, DOJ, BIR, husgado at patunayan ang aking kawalang kasalanan (I know that as a lawyer, you understand the importance of ‘presumption of innocence’ and the need to respect the rights of every individual while the investigation is ongoing. I am ready to defend myself before the Ombudsman, Department of Justice, Bureau of Internal Revenue, and the courts to prove my innocence),” she said.
Escudero said Guo’s letter did not say if she would attend the next Senate hearing on July 29.
“Although I understand what she is asking for, as long as she does not show up and adhere to the Senate order, I cannot accept whatever request she is asking for,” he said.
He said Guo need not worry that the people of Bamban would not get the basic services they need since an acting mayor has been appointed to replace her while she is serving her six-month suspension.
Escudero said he does not need to reply to Guo’s letter since his statements to the media are enough to get his message across.
Instead, he said that her legal team should give her the best advice so her ordeal with the Senate would come to an end.
“I hope that in the end, her lawyers will give her the best advice to just attend the hearings so that this chapter of her life in the Senate will end so she can focus, concentrate on the cases filed against her at the DOJ, Solicitor General, and Sandiganbayan)” he added.
Escudero assured Guo she would be safe and secure once she turned herself in to the Senate.
“After she attends and guarantees her continued attendance, the contempt citation and warrant of arrest can be lifted. That is a guarantee,” Escudero said.
The committee cited Guo in contempt and issued an arrest warrant after she skipped the hearings last June 26 and July 10.
The committee also cited Guo’s siblings and parents, Nancy Gamo (the Guo family’s accountant) and Dennis Cunanan in contempt for the same reason.
To date, only Gamo is under the custody of the Senate.
Guo is being investigated by the Senate over her alleged links to the POGO hub raided in her hometown in February 2023 and last March.
In the course of the investigation, the committee discovered that Guo and Chinese citizen Guo Hua Ping, who arrived in the country in 2003 when she was just 13 years old, are the same person based on their fingerprints.
Despite this, Guo has maintained that she is Filipino.
The Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) is looking to file the quo warranto petition against Guo before July ends.
Speaking in a press conference after signing a Memorandum of Agreement with the Commission on Elections (Comelec), Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said they are still incorporating additional evidence against Guo before filing the quo warranto petition.
“We are still incorporating the new evidence that turned up and we are consolidating everything,” said Guevarra. “We are hoping to file the petition for quo warranto before the end of this month.”
He said the influx of more evidence had delayed their filing of the quo warranto petition.
“Evidence keeps on turning up, and they will fortify those that we already have,” said Guevara.
The quo warranto case is a legal action against those who unlawfully hold or exercise a public office without lawful authority.
Comelec Chairman George Garcia said they intend to provide the OSG with additional evidence against Guo.
Garcia said they will forward to the OSG their findings against Guo in their ongoing efforts to determine whether there was material misrepresentation in her Certificate of Candidacy (COC) for the May 2022 polls
