SENATE deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros yesterday presented documents that could shed light on the possible identity of Mayor Alice Guo’s alleged biological mother, adding they showed that Lin Wen Yi (Li Wengyi as earlier reported by Sen. Sherwin Gatchalin) was an incorporator in at least seven businesses of the mayor in Bamban, Tarlac.
Hontiveros made the revelation after Gatchalian, in a media interview last Wednesday, said that residents of Valenzuela City could attest that Lin, a Chinese citizen, was repeatedly introduced by Guo as her mother when the family rented a warehouse in the city.
“She (Guo) introduced this Wengyi as her mother to the people of Valenzuela. My personal assessment is that this (Wengyi) might be the biological other of Alice Guo,” Gatchalian said.
“The identity of Mayor Guo’s mother is crucial to this whole saga. If her mother and father are Chinese, this will prove that the mayor is not a Filipino citizen. If this is true, the bigger question would be: Why did she hide it? Why did she lie?” Hontiveros said in a statement.
Meanwhile, the National Bureau of Investigation is waiting for the Senate to order a probe into the identity of the mayor.
Although the NBI can conduct an investigation on its own, DOJ Assistant Secretary and spokesperson Jose Dominic Clavano said the agency would rather wait for the order out of courtesy to the Senate.
The Committee on Women chaired by Hontiveros has widened its investigation on irregularities plaguing the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operator industry after documents showed that Guo has possible connections to the POGO hub raided in Bamban, Tarlac last March.
Authorities said that aside from cyber scams, the raided POGO hub was also being used for surveillance and hacking of government websites.
Hontiveros said the incorporators in Guo’s seven businesses — QJJ Group of Companies, QJJ Farms, QJJ Embroidery, QJJ Meat Shop, 3LIN-Q Farm, QJJ Slaughterhouse, and QSeed Genetics — include her siblings Shiela L. Guo and Sieman L. Guo, her father Jian Zhong Guo (Angelito Guo), and Lin Wen Yi.
She said if Guo lied about her siblings, it is not far-fetched that she also lied about the true identity of her biological mother.
In past committee hearings, Hontiveros said documents her office obtained from the Philippine Statistics Authority listed a certain Amelia Villaruel Leal as Guo’s mother. PSA records showed Amelia was married to Angelito Guo.
The mayor earlier claimed she was abandoned by her biological mother when she was just a child, adding that Amelia was their former house helper.
Guo also claimed she was the only child of Amelia and Angelito, but PSA records showed that Shiela L. Guo and Siemen L. Guo were also the children of Amelia and Angelito.
The PSA said a fourth child was also born to Amelia with Angelito as the father. Records also showed that Amelia and Angelito were married on different dates as reflected on the birth certificates of Alice, Shiela, Siemen, and the fourth child.
Hontiveros said Guo “has been lying through her teeth the past two hearings.”
“There are a lot of invented stories, and there is almost no truth coming out of her mouth,” Hontiveros said. “Are they all related? Is this one big, dubious family business? As Sen. Win also noted, Jian Zhong Guo and Yi Wen Yi traveled together at least 170 times in a span of six years. Are they just business partners or husband and wife?”
She said records from the Bureau of Internal Revenue certified the birthdates and addresses of Guo’s co-incorporators, who are alleged to be her family members.
In the document presented by Hontiveros, Siemen L. Guo was born on July 12, 1990; Shiela L. Guo on January 12, 1984; Jian Zhong Guo on September 16, 1958; while Lin Wen Yi was born on March 27, 1971. Alice Guo was born on July 12, 1986.
“If 1971 is the birth year of Lin Wen Yi, who is allegedly the biological mother of Guo, she gave birth to Alice when she was only 15 years old. If Lin is also the biological mother of Sheila, which Alice admitted to be her sister, she (Lin) was only 13 years old when she gave birth to Shiela. Unless these are all made up by a Chinese syndicate which was allowed by the government,” she said.
Hontiveros said she also received information that the alleged mother of Guo was called “Wennie” by her friends, which she said could be the “Filipinized version” of the name Lin Wen Yi.
EXECUTIVE SESSION
Hontiveros, in an interview with radio dyPM yesterday, said an executive session where various government agencies would provide the committee additional information on Guo will be held on June 5.
She said the committee has invited representatives from the Department of Justice, Bureau of Internal Revenue, Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation, and government intelligence agencies, among others.
“The intelligence agencies said they will present more information that has been disclosed during past hearings. They can all disclose this information when we hold an executive session,” Hontiveros said.
She hinted that among the information to be disclosed is the angle of possible espionage which she said has been done by “big countries” that have interests in the West Philippine Sea, the country’s power grids, and telecommunications.
She said she also received information that espionage is also being done in other Southeast Asian countries, Australia, and parts of Africa.
She said the pronouncement of Guo’s camp calling on Amelia to come out in the open would be good to prove that she (Amelia) actually exists.
CREEPING INVASION?
Sen. Loren Legarda said there is a need to establish Guo’s real citizenship since “it could be (a case of) creeping invasion” if the mayor is proven not to be a Filipino citizen.
“We can see that invasion does not come from the sea or air alone. It could be cultural, economic, and this time it’s political. That’s why we really have to establish where she came from,” Legarda said in an interview with the Senate media.
She said faking birth certificates and other government documents makes it possible for foreigners to become Filipino citizens, which she said has implications for national security.
She added that concerned government agencies should be held liable as foreigners are now able to secure PSA documents they use when applying for important documents, like a Philippine passport.
“This issue is very important to me because this can happen not only in a small town, but the possible infiltration of other nationals in local elective posts, and in other areas which are of national security concerns,” she added.
Legarda said she will ask concerned government agencies during the executive session next week how Guo was able to obtain those documents and if some of the country’s government agencies have been infiltrated by members of criminal syndicates who facilitate the release of official documents.
NBI WEIGHS IN
“If need be and if requested by the committee, we can definitely assist,” Clavano told reporters in an online briefing.
“But we need to receive a request from the Senate so that we can conduct the investigation. Ayaw lang po nating pangunahan ang Senado, especially because there is an ongoing investigation on their end, but if they have a directive to us to conduct an investigation, we will definitely abide,” he added.
Solicitor General Menardo Guevarra said earlier that his office had formed a team to determine if Guo was “ineligible” to hold public office.
Guevarra also said the OSG may file a quo warranto case against Guo if it finds good reason to do so.
“We are presently coordinating with various agencies to gather relevant facts and information,” Guevarra said, adding these agencies include the Commission on Elections, Department of the Interior and Local Government, the Philippine Statistics Authority, Bureau of Immigration and the Department of Education.
Under Rule 66 of the Rules of Court, the Solicitor General or a public prosecutor may initiate the filing of a quo warranto proceedings upon the orders of the President or upon his or her initiative.
Guo has denied any involvement in the operation of the raided POGO hub in Bamban. — With Ashzel Hachero
