SHIELA Leal Guo yesterday admitted that she left the country last July with elder sister Alice Guo, the dismissed mayor of Bamban, Tarlac, and brother Wesley via a circuitous route that took them to Malaysia but displayed selective amnesia in recalling basic details about their escape or her personal life.
She also claimed during the first Senate hearing on their escape that she was born in China and Alice is not her biological sibling, contrary to what the dismissed Bamban mayor had said in past Senate hearings.
Meanwhile, Immigration Commissioner Norman Tansingco admitted they received information last August 15 from the PNP Intelligence Group (PNP IG) that Alice had left the country but did not immediately relay the information to the Department of Justice, saying they needed to verify the information.
“Upon receipt of the information, we conducted validation. We got the confirmation on the morning of August 19, and (on) August 20 all information was validated. We informed the DOJ on August 20 because of the conflicting information on the flight details. We also checked kung gumamit sila ng (if they escaped via) airport or seaport. So, when we got the right information, that was the time that we informed the DOJ,” Tansingco said.
Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian earlier said the BI had information that Alice had escaped even before Senate deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros delivered a privilege speech last August 19 disclosing that Alice Guo had arrived in Malaysia on July 18.
Shiela disclosed the information a day after the National Bureau of Investigation turned her over to the Senate and five days after she and Cassandra Li Ong, a business associate of Alice, were arrested in Indonesia and sent back to Manila.
Shiela, Alice, Wesley, and Xiemen Guo have standing warrants of arrest issued by the Senate for snubbing the hearings of the Committee on Women over crimes linked with the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators industry that was ordered banned by President Marcos Jr. during his third SONA speech.
The BI has filed a deportation case against Shiela Guo for “misrepresentation” since she has Chinese and Philippine passports.
USING BOATS
Sheila said she, Alice and Wesley Guo exited the country using boats but cannot recall their point of origin.
Responding to questions from senators, she replied: “Hindi ko alam ‘yung lugar (I do not know the place).”
Asked by Sen. Ronald dela Rosa if they departed from Manila or Mindanao, Shiela said: “Saan po ‘yung Mindanao? Hindi ko alam (Where is Mindanao? I do not know).”
Shiela said they were fetched by two men in the Guo family farm in Bamban and rode a van to get to a port. From there, they rode a “small boat” and traveled for several hours before reaching another port where they transferred to a “bigger boat,” which she described as something like a fishing vessel due to the presence of fishing nets.
She said they traveled for about three to four days aboard the big boat until they reached another port where they transferred to another small boat until they reached Seporna, more popularly known as Sipadan Island in Sabah, Malaysia.
She said Alice told her to come with her and Wesley as the dismissed mayor was “depressed” because of the Senate hearings, and that Alice just wanted to travel. She said she was asked by Alice not to ask many questions.
“Sabi lang niya malungkot siya at di ko naman alam na magpupunta kami sa Malaysia. Sabi lang niya ay sumama raw ako at may pupuntahan lang daw kami. Hindi naman ako nagduda na nagtatago na siya (She said that she was depressed and I had no idea that we were going to Malaysia. She just told me to tag along. I did not have any idea that she was already in hiding),” she said, adding she cannot even remember who drove the van.
She said a woman she described as Asian-looking and speaking English met them in Malaysia and arranged for their travel to Singapore via an airplane.
She said it was in Malaysia where they met with Cassandra Li Ong, an incorporator of Lucky South 99 Corporation which operated the illegal POGO hub in Porac, Pampanga. She said Ong is the girlfriend of Wesley.
Shiela said they used their Philippine passports to enter Malaysia on July 18. From Malaysia, she said they rode a ferry to Batam, Indonesia where they stayed in a hotel.
“Last na kasama namin si Alice noong August 20. Kaya ako naiwan sa Indonesia kasi hindi ako marunong mag-English kaya sinamahan ako ni Cassie (Ong). Humiwalay na sa amin si Alice, hindi niya sinabi bakit siya humiwalay. Si Wesley ay nauna sa amin pumunta ng Singapore (The last time we were with Alice was August 20. I remained in Indonesia because I don’t know how to speak English, so Cassie (Ong) accompanied me. Alice parted ways with us but she did not say why. As for Wesley, he left ahead for Singapore),” Shiela said.
Tansingco said that according to reports from their counterparts, Alice was still in Jakarta, Indonesia as of Monday night. He added the BI has a standing request to Indonesian immigration authorities for the immediate deportation of Alice once she is intercepted.
Shiela said she and Ong were about to get back to Singapore when they were intercepted by Indonesian authorities and sent back to the Philippines. Shiela said she Ong for the first time in Malaysia.
Senate president pro tempore Jinggoy Estrada said Alice and her siblings may have traveled from Bamban, Tarlac to Sual, Pangasinan where the dismissed mayor reportedly had a boyfriend.
INFORMATION RECEIVED
Brig. Gen. Nicolas Salvador, acting director of the PNP directorate for operations, said the PNP-IG received a report last August 14 from their foreign counterparts that Alice was already in Malaysia.
“We first worked with our foreign police counterparts for validation. Then we passed the information to the Bureau of Immigration,” Salvador said.
Hontiveros said that based on reports, Alice and company boarded Batik Air flight 177 from Denpasar in Bali, Indonesia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 18.
“It is believed that Alice Guo and some members of her party were on that flight, but Alice’s photo was not captured in the immigration record in Malaysia,” she said.
“Second, according to news reports, Alice proceeded to Singapore on July 21. According to PAOCC (Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission), Alice Guo’s likeness was captured at Kuala Lumpur International Airport,” she added.
On July 28, Hontiveros said that Alice’s parents — Guo Jian Zhong (father) and Li Wen Yi (mother) — flew to Singapore from China.
“Katherine Cassandra Ong may have already have been waiting for them in Singapore as she was there since June 11, 2024, when she flew from Manila to Singapore via Singapore Airlines flight SQ917.”
She said Wesley Guo took a ferry from Singapore to Batam, Indonesia on August 16. Two days later, Alice, Shiela, and Ong followed him to Indonesia using their Philippine passports.
She said a Singaporean with the initials “ZJ,” short for Zhang Jie, a former president of Lucky South 99, booked them four rooms at the Harris Hotel in Batam, Indonesia.
PAOCC spokesman Winston Casio said they are still verifying information that Alice Guo and her party stayed at the Eman Pulo Resort in San Antonio, Zambales where they took a small boat to travel down south.
Casio said a PAOCC team got to the resort last July 14 but were told they were one hour and a half late “because the group (has) left on board two speed boats.”
He said their informant failed to provide them photos that would prove that Alice Guo was one of the Chinese-looking individuals seen in the private beach resort.
He added the information they received that Alice was in Eman Pulo resort could have been erroneous based on information Shiela disclosed during the hearing.
Justice Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty said Alice and the rest may have used the southern backdoor or even the northern part of the country to escape.
Ty said the common areas that an individual might use are the ZamBaSulTa areas (Zamboanga, Basilan, Sulu, and Tawi-Tawi) or Palawan.
Hontiveros said that based on BI records, Alice Guo and company entered Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on July 18 but their passports also had immigration entry stamps on July 19 in Sabah, Malaysia.
“From Kuala Lumpur to Sabah, dapat din wala nang stamp because it’s the same country. So how can she be in two places at almost the same time? (From Kuala Lumpur to Sabah, there should have been no more immigration stamps because it is the same country. So how can she be in two places at almost the same time?” Hontiveros said.
She said the escape of Alice is a “reflection” of the country’s inefficiency in effectively enforcing government laws and securing its borders.
“As a reminder, Shiela Guo has been cited in contempt in the Senate Committee on Women hearing, not this subcommittee. So, she will need to attend that before her contempt is purged,” Hontiveros said.
NOT SIBLINGS
Shiela told the Senate panel that she was born in China and Alice is not her biological sibling. She said that Guo Jian Zhong, also known as Angelito Guo, is not her biological father and that Wen Yi Lin is her auntie.
Alice had claimed that Guo Jian Zhong is her biological father and her biological mother is Amelia Leal, their alleged former house helper. In past hearings, Alice said that Shiela was her biological sister.
Shiela refused to identify her biological parents, invoking her right to self-incrimination since cases have been filed against her for violation of the Philippine Passport Act and immigration laws.
She said Guo Jian Zhong, whom she calls “daddy,” facilitated the late registration of her birth records so she could get a Philippine passport which she has been using since 2008 in the family’s travels abroad.
The NBI said that Shiela’s real name is Zhang Mier based on fingerprint comparison. But Shiela refused to confirm this.
She said she arrived in the Philippines in 2001 when she was 17 years old on the instructions of Guo Jian Zhong so she could help in the Guo family’s embroidery business.
Shiela said she stayed at the family’s embroidery business (QJJ Embroidery) in Marilao, Bulacan and seldom visited the Guo family farm in Bamban, Tarlac. She said she operated embroidery machines and checked the quality of the finished items.
Gatchalian said that based on records, Shiela was listed in the Guo family’s businesses as their corporate secretary and treasurer and has affixed her signature 96 times in various documents of the Guo family businesses.
When asked if she understood her tasks as corporate secretary and treasurer, Shiela said she did not know as she only operated the machines.
CASSANDRA ONG
Senators said they have requested the House of Representatives to bring Ong to the Senate to attend the hearing, having been cited in contempt for her absence in past hearings.
Hontiveros said the House has not replied to their request. Ong is detained at the House, which has issued a warrant of arrest against her.
Ong, in a letter sent to the sub-committee through her legal counsel led by Atty. Ferdinand Topacio, invoked her right against self-incrimination as the reason for not attending yesterday’s hearing.
“In this connection, by way of courtesy to your honors, we wish to state, for the record, that our client, Ms. Katherine Cassandra Li Ong, has opted to decline to testify on any matter that may be raised by the Committees, in the exercise of her right to remain silent and against being compelled to testify against herself,” Topacio said in the letter.
NOTARY PUBLIC
Senators took turns grilling Atty. Elmer Galicia for notarizing the sworn counter-affidavit of Alice Guo reportedly without the latter’s physical presence last August 14.
Testifying during the Senate investigation, Galicia initially told senators he was not aware that Alice Guo has a standing warrant of arrest issued by the Senate, saying he seldom watches or hears news on TV and radio even if he is the publisher of a tabloid.
He said that his secretary called him on his phone to inform him that a certain Allan was waiting for him at his office in Bulacan to have a document notarized.
Galicia said he was later surprised that a woman who looked like dismissed Mayor Alice Guo wanted her counter-affidavit notarized.
“I assumed that it was Mayor Guo. She even presented her driver’s license. She has a resemblance with Mayor Alice Guo because I have seen her while browsing the internet so my perception is she really was Alice Guo,” Galicia said.
“Tinanong ko siya, Mayor Alice Guo? ‘Alice na lang,’ sabi niya. Nagulat ako na makakaharap ko ang ganoong kataas na tao (I asked her, Mayor Alice Guo? She replied to just call her Alice. I was surprised since I had no idea that I would meet someone of her status in government),” he added.
Galicia later admitted that the Alice Guo he was referring to did not step out of her vehicle.
“She just stayed in her vehicle; it was around 7 p.m. already. I was not able to make her subscribe and swear before me because I was taken aback, surprised with what happened.
I also did not let her sign on the notary book as there is no policy to that,” Galicia said.
DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty said Galicia can be held liable for not making sure that Alice Guo signed the notary book as proof that she is really the person who had her documents notarized.
CHECKING MANIFESTS
The Bureau of Immigration said it is checking the manifests of commercial and private aircraft as well as ships and boats after Shiela Guo revealed that she, Alice Guo and Wesley left the country last July 18.
Hontiveros had disclosed that Guo and her companions managed to leave the country while multiple government agencies were looking for her, with an immigration lookout bulletin order to boot.
The Senate committee headed by Hontiveros is investigating Guo’s alleged links to the illegal operation of a POGO facility in Bamban.
The BI and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission later confirmed Hontiveros’ disclosure.
BI deputy spokesperson Melvin Mabulac said they are combing the manifests and records of commercial and private aircraft and boats following the revelation of Sheila.
“We looked, we checked the manifests for the whole month of July, every single one. We are not yet done because this is being done manually nationwide. So far, we did not see the name Alice Guo. We have not seen the name of Alice Guo in our system,” he said.
Tansingco earlier said he believes Guo and her siblings left the country “illegally” without passing through the normal or regular immigration channels.
The ILBO issued by the Department of Justice would have allowed immigration authorities to monitor Guo and her companions if they passed through regular immigration channels.
Mabulac said the BI has filed a deportation case against Shiela for “misrepresentation” since she has Chinese and Philippine passports.
“There was misrepresentation because she has a Chinese passport and also possesses a Philippine passport,” Mabulac said.
He also said the agency did not file a deportation case against Ong because she is a Filipino.
COMELEC EXTENSION
The Commission on Elections (Comelec) granted the request of Alice Guo for an extension in filing her counter-affidavit in the material misrepresentation complaint lodged against her.
“That (grant of extension) is almost automatically granted as we are not so strict to respondents since this is a criminal case,” said Comelec chief George Garcia but added another extension is no longer acceptable.
A material misrepresentation complaint was filed motu proprio by the Comelec against Guo over her Certificate of Candidacy filed in the May 2022 polls.
While the Comelec gave leniency in the deadline, Garcia assured that they will be critical of the legitimacy of the counter-affidavit that would be filed. — With Ashzel Hachero and Gerard Naval
