THE National Bureau of Investigation said yesterday that more cases will be filed against dismissed Bamban Mayor Alice Guo and other individuals for their involvement with the illegal operations of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) facility in Tarlac and other alleged illegal activities.
Ha Palmer Mallari, chief of the NBI’s fraud and financial crimes division, said the bureau is preparing additional cases against Guo and others after finishing five of the eight “active investigations” in relation to the illegal POGO hub in Bamban, Tarlac.
He said the NBI Dagupan District Office has filed cases of falsification of public documents against Guo and “several other personalities” after it was found that they faked the Articles of Incorporation and documents presented to the Securities and Exchange Commission in setting up the Guo family’s companies.
“This is on the basis of our stand, based on our forensic examination of the fingerprints that she (Guo) is not a Filipino,” Mallari told the Senate sub-committee on justice and human rights on its inquiry on the proposed cancellation of Guo’s passport.
Mallari said the NBI will also file cases of falsification of public documents in relation to the transactions made by Guo and others in buying and selling properties because Guo, also known as Guo Hua Ping, has no right to buy properties since she is not a Filipino.
Mallari said additional cases of human trafficking will also be filed against “other persons” who were not included in the same cases earlier filed.
He said Guo and members of the Sangguniang Bayan of Bamban, Tarlac will be slapped with cases in relation to the issuance of a resolution that allowed the reclassification of agricultural land into industrial land where the POGO hub was built.
Mallari said cases would also be filed against inspectors of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) who failed to detect that the POGO hub was illegally operating a scam hub.
“Ang stand po kasi ng NBI dito, based on our investigation, is that some of the holders of the licenses of POGO before ginagawa lang nilang façade ang offshore gaming operations, pero at the back of the operation is that ginagawa nilang mga scamming operations (Based on our investigation, some holders of POGO licenses are just using the offshore gaming as a façade but at the back they are doing scamming operations),” he added.
He said Guo and others are also liable for the illegal acquisition of a lot in Mangatarem, Pangsinan.
Mallari said their field offices in Bulacan and Tarlac are about to wrap up their investigations on the other corporations, land ownership, and other properties of Guo and her family and acquaintances were involved with “within the month.”
CLUELESS ON GUO ESCAPE
Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros, who presided over the sub-committee hearing, said the Bureau of Immigration has been remiss on its job since it has not yet determined how Guo and her siblings managed to flee from the country at the height of the Senate Committee on Women’s investigation on illegal POGOs last year.
This after BI intelligence division chief Fortunato Manahan failed to provide the sub-committee with detailed information on Guo’s escape, claiming their foreign counterparts had not made any official response to the immigration bureau months after the escape and arrest of Guo.
“No official reply from them as of today. We have received information from informal channels that they also do not have information with regard to the arrival and departure of Alice Guo on those particular dates. No official reply, we have not received any,” Manahan said in a mix of Filipino and English.
Hontiveros said the BI seems to be “inutile” as it has not exerted more efforts to determine the details of Guo’s escape and was just content on their foreign counterparts’ failure to respond.
“It shouldn’t even be a mystery. It should be a simpler matter of fact that we should have already figured out by now. This is very regrettable,” Hontiveros said.
Manahan said they also do not have information on whether there were BI personnel who may have facilitated Guo’s escape but added the BI Board of Discipline is still looking into a number of employees and officers.
The BI has promised that it would determine the other details of Guo’s escape but has not obtained any solid information as of yesterday.
It can be recalled that Guo and her sibling Shiela claimed in a Senate hearing that they rode a boat to leave the country and enter Malaysia, and then went to Singapore until they were arrested in Indonesia.
National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA) director Ferlu Silvio said based on their investigation, Shiela Guo entered Kota Kinabalu, adding it would not be far-fetched that she and Alice used Tawi-tawi as their exit point.
“So, we presume that the jump-off point from the Philippines is Kota Kinabalu…From Kota Kinabalu they could have travelled by land, heading to the eastern part of Sabah where there are many airports,” Silvio said.
He said the Guo siblings may have moved from one place to another using an authentic Malaysian identification card of another person, which was presented by their supposed handler to local authorities, which explains why there were no official records of their travels.
He said it was logical that Guo and her siblings went to Malaysia by plane and went to Indonesia by sea.
REVAMP BI
Hontiveros said the BI’s response was “bothersome” since a high-profile fugitive had escaped and all it was doing was waiting for a response from its counterparts.
She said what was even concerning was that there seems to be no investigation conducted on who were responsible for Guo’s escape.
“To Commissioner Viado of the Bureau of Immigration, with all due respect, please consider this an ultimatum. If no satisfactory answers on these matters are provided by the BI within 15 days, as designated subcommittee chairman of the Committee on Justice, I will call for a revamp in the BI in the committee report of this subcommittee. A revamp starting from the Commissioner himself,” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros said she was supposed to terminate the hearing but opted otherwise since the BI kept telling the subcommittee that “we will submit a report, we will check our files.”
‘NO EVIDENCE’
Viado said there was no evidence that BI personnel were involved in Guo’s escape.
He said that according to the National Intelligence Coordinating Agency (NICA), the most probable mode of exit that Guo utilized in fleeing the country was via the southern backdoor.
To address the problem, Viado said the BI and the other member-agencies of IACAT are working overtime to curb illegal backdoor exits.
He said that among the measures is better engagement with LGUs and local law enforcement agencies where private coastlines and airstrips are located.
In October last year, Viado told the Senate that Guo and her siblings fled to Malaysia by air, at least based on the BI’s preliminary findings. – With Ashzel Hachero
