Another executive session with Guo set next week

SENATE deputy minority leader Risa Hontiveros yesterday said dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo identified a “crucial personality” in the operations of illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) in the country during the executive session held on Tuesday afternoon.

But Hontiveros, who is the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women investigating crimes related to the offshore gaming industry, said she was not satisfied with the revelations of Guo, whose Chinese name is Guo Hua Ping, during the closed-door meeting.

“Hindi pa rin ako masyadong satisfied sa mga pahayag sa executive session bagamat there was one crucial personality confirmed by Guo Hua Ping (I am not fully satisfied with what she revealed during the executive session, although there was one crucial personality confirmed by Guo Hua Ping).  This corroborates a theory that the Committee shared a month ago,” she said in a statement.

She did not give additional details.

Hontiveros said they would hold another executive session with Guo next week as they had to suspend the Tuesday meeting and attend plenary sessions.

Sen. Joseph Victor Ejercito, also in a statement, said Guo can qualify as a state witness if she will identify the brains behind the illegal POGO operations.

“If she will divulge who are the masterminds behind this syndicate, then she can be a state witness as she is the least guilty. What is important is she tells who is behind,” Ejercito said.

He said that while the executive meeting with Guo was an “icebreaker,” he wants the dismissed mayor to reveal more information.

“Personally, hindi ako naniniwala na isang Alice Guo ang nasa likuran ng ganitong operasyon kundi isang international crime syndicate at pawn o front lamang si Guo (Personally, I don’t believe that Alice Guo is behind these kinds of illegal operation, but rather, international crime syndicates who are using her as a pawn or front),” Ejercito said.

Senate majority leader Francis Tolentino said he expects Guo to reveal more information in next week’s executive session.

“I think the mere fact that she agreed to have an executive session, and to say something which was not revealed during the regular hearings is a sign of respect towards the Senate. I think she will divulge a lot, especially with her conditions right now. I heard that she slept on a plywood last night because of some bed bugs inside (her) detention cell in Pasig,” Tolentino said in an interview with ANC.

“So, I think with her physical condition, as well as her health condition, she might be forced to say things not divulged before,” he added.

Tolentino said Guo was “very calm and forthright” during the executive session.

Although hesitant, senators agreed to hold a closed-door meeting with Guo after the committee hearing last Tuesday in the hopes that she would name the illegal POGO masterminds.

During last Tuesday’s hearing, Guo told senators that she is not the mastermind of illegal POGOs.

“Hindi po ako mastermind. Masasabi po na ako ay victim… I think sa tagal po ng investigation, alam na rin po ng committee, especially chaired by our Madama Chair (Hontiveros), who is really at the back of everything (I am not the mastermind. What I can say is that I am a victim… This investigation has been going on for quite some time and I think that the committee, chaired by Sen. Hontiveros, already knows who is really at the back of everything),” Guo said.

It was Ejercito who moved to have an executive session with Guo so that more confidential information can be tackled.

The Hontiveros panel was expected to wrap-up last Tuesday its investigation into the operations of the POGO hub that was raided in Bamban, but decided to hold another hearing to give former PNP chief Gen. Bejamin Acorda a chance to air his side after photos of him with suspected POGO personalities were presented during the last hearing.

“Since the photos of a former PNP chief and other PNP personalities with POGO personalities were shown, we deem it important to give them a platform to respond in the interest of fairness,” Hontiveros said.

She was referring to photos of Acorda with Tony Yang, also known by his other Filipino name Antonio Maestrado Lim and whose Chinese name is Jian Xin Yang, and other Chinese men; and with Sual, Pangasinan Mayor Liseldo “Dong” Calugay and his friends.

The photos were presented amid questions on the identity of the former PNP chief whom Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corporation (Pagcor) security chief Raul Villanueva said during a previous committee hearing was allegedly on the payroll of POGOs linked to Guo.

Villanueva also said there were talks in the intelligence community that the ex-police chief helped Guo and her siblings Shiela and Wesley escaped in July.

Villanueva, a retired Army general who was once assigned with the Intelligence Service of the AFP, later said his statement was merely based on rumors.

ACORDA

Acorda yesterday denied his alleged ties with POGOs, stressing that he is “clean” in so far as the offshore gambling operations of Guo and her companions are concerned.

“I have nothing to do with her escape. I did not also accept money from her,” Acorda told reporters during a phone patch interview, referring to Guo.

Acorda admitted meeting with Yang sometime in 2010 but “I did not know that Mr. Yang has POGO operations at that time.”

He said he was hurt by insinuations that he is involved in the operation of illegal POGOs “because for 37 years I tried to keep my record clean.”

“I was not involved in illegal transactions, that’s what I can say,” he said, stressing: “To put the record straight, I didn’t have (illegal) transaction, if that is what they are insinuating.”

SHIELA GUO

The Bureau of Immigration said security concerns prompted them to turn over Shiela Guo, purported sister of the former Bamban mayor, to the NBI yesterday.

BI spokesperson Dana Krizia Sandoval said Sheila’s legal custody will remain with the bureau as she is facing a deportation case for misrepresentation and undesirability.

“Sa NBI natin siya kasalukuyang ilalagak muna because nakikita natin na merong mga security concerns. And since ang operations natin is joint with NBI and BI, mas magiging mabuti kung nandoon po siya sa kustodiya ng NBI (We placed her in the custody of the NBI due to security concerns. And since we are conducting joint operations with the NBI, we saw that it would be better if she is under their custody),” Sandoval told GMA7’s Unang Balita Wednesday.

She assured the public that Shiela will be treated just like any ordinary detainee at the NBI.

“Parang regular na nakapiit po siya doon sa NBI. Wala pong special treatment sa kanila (She will be detained in a regular cell. There is no special treatment for her),” she said.

Sandoval has said that while the BI has a detention facility in Bicutan, Taguig City to hold Shiela, the NBI has the facilities to hold a subject that requires high security.

The Senate Committee on Women on Tuesday lifted the contempt order it issued against Shiela for her refusal to attend its hearings. Hontiveros said Shiela will be transferred to the custody of the BI.

Guo is facing charges for disobedience to Senate summons and for allegedly using a fake Philippine passport.

She is also a respondent in the money laundering complaint filed against the dismissed Bamban mayor by the AMLC before the DOJ.

The Senate cited Guo in contempt and ordered her arrest in July. She was apprehended by Indonesian authorities along with Katherine Cassadra Li Ong last August 22 and returned to Manila on the same day. – With Victor Reyes and Ashzel Hachero