DISMISSED Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo will be brought to the Senate on Monday to attend the inquiry on her alleged links to Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs).
Guo and her siblings Shiela and Wesley fled on July 17 to Malaysia at the height of the Senate probe.
The Guos traveled to Singapore and then to Indonesia, where Alice was arrested on September 3 and flown back to the Philippines on September 5.
Shiela and their business partner Cassandra Ong were arrested a week earlier also in Indonesia and were deported back to the country.
Since her return, Alice has been detained in the Philippine National Police Custodial Center in Camp Crame on orders of a Capas, Tarlac, regional trial court that issued a warrant for her arrest.
Guo is facing several cases, including human trafficking and money laundering.
Sen. Risa Hontiveros, chairman of the Senate Committee on the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, had requested the presiding judge, Sarah Vedaña-delos Santos, to allow Alice to attend the continuation of the inquiry.
Vedaña-delos Santos granted Hontiveros’ request.
Hontiveros had questioned the decision of the Department of the Interior and Local Government to file the graft charges against Guo before the Tarlac court, saying the Sandiganbayan “should be the one to handle graft and corruption charges against high-ranking officials like Mayor Guo.”
Over the weekend, Department of Justice (DoJ) Assistant Secretary and spokesman Mico Clavano said the personalities who helped Alice Guo slip out of the country will be unmasked soon.
Clavano said the DoJ could wrap up its investigation on Guo’s escape “perhaps this month.”
“I was just told that the only thing I can disclose at this point is that it is coming to an end, and we can expect that the results of the investigation will come out very soon,” he said.
Clavano declined to disclose how many government officials are suspected of aiding Guo.
“We’re not only looking at the possibilities of public officials aiding and abetting, but we’re also looking at the angle of private individuals as well,” he said.
The spokesman said Alice Guo could not have planned her escape alone. “She really has a big network, and the POGO network is quite big. It’s quite large. There’s a web of these bosses, managers, supervisors that may be helping each other as well,” he added.
President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. vowed in late August that “heads will roll” if people in government are found to have helped Guo flee the country.
PNP spokesman Col. Jean Fajardo said Sunday a police convoy will bring Guo from Camp Crame to the Senate building at 8 a.m.
Fajardo said the PNP had discussed the details of Guo’s trip to the Senate with the Office of the Senate’s Sergeant-at-Arms,
Guo will be wearing a bulletproof vest and will be riding in a car with female police officers. A SWAT (Special Weapons and Tactics) team will be part of the convoy.
She will be handcuffed all the time, but Fajardo said “we will take a cue from the Senate if the handcuffs are removed during the investigation.”
“We have to take into consideration what she said that she has been receiving death threats. So just like any individual with a threat to life, we have to take this seriously,” the spokesman said.
