(UPDATES) A FORMER Philippine National Police (PNP) chief was reportedly on the payroll of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo, an official of the Philippine Amusement and Gaming Corp. (Pagcor) told the Senate Tuesday.
Testifying at the Senate inquiry on illegal Philippine offshore gaming operators (POGOs) in Tarlac, Raul Villanueva, senior vice president of Pagcor’s security and monitoring cluster, said “rumors in the intelligence community” said a former PNP chief had helped Guo flee the country in July.
Villanueva, a former military general, made the revelation when Sen. Risa Hontiveros, chairman of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality, asked whether there were high-ranking officials who helped Guo escape in July.
Villanueva said the talk revolved not only around the alleged involvement of immigration officials but also of PNP officials.
“I don’t have the name. [But] there were some rumors in the intelligence community that a former chief PNP [was helping her]. The intelligence community is still confirming it,” he said in Filipino and English.
“But I cannot confirm that, ma’am, because I’m outside of the loop lately because we’re busy right now helping the law enforcement agencies running after the illegal POGOs in the countryside or in the provinces,” Villanueva told Hontiveros.
When asked which PNP unit was involved, Villanueva said: “It’s not a PNP unit, ma’am, but personalities.” Hontiveros asked, “Who are they?”
Villanueva replied, “I think it was mentioned the former chief PNP.” Hontiveros followed up, “Which one?” To which, he said, “I don’t know, ma’am, but [apparently a] former chief PNP.”
Sen. Joel Villanueva expressed concern about the possibility that a former PNP chief was under Guo’s payroll. “That’s very serious.”
“Definitely. It’s not surprising anymore. It’s clear that we are vulnerable,” the senator said.
Also on Tuesday, Guo admitted that she signed her affidavit dated August 14 during the first week of July or way before she fled the country. Senators said this showed that her lawyers knew of her plan to escape.
On August 16, Guo’s lawyers filed before the Department of Justice a counter-affidavit in response to the qualified trafficking in persons complaint filed against her.
Guo, believed to be Chinese under the name Gua Hua Ping, and her siblings Shiela and Wesley fled to Sabah, Malaysia, in the middle of July at the height of the Senate probe on human trafficking in POGOs in Tarlac and Pampanga. The Guo sisters and their business associate, Cassandra Ong, were arrested separately in Indonesia.
At the same hearing on Tuesday, Sual, Pangasinan Mayor Liseldo Calugay denied reports that he and Guo are lovers and business partners. Guo and Calugay attended the resumption of the Senate inquiry on POGOs in Tarlac.
Calugay’s staff had reportedly helped Guo in having her affidavit notarized on August 14 or on a date when she had already left the country.
Villanueva asked Calugay whether he and Guo were “lovers in POGO.”
Calugay, in Filipino, replied, “No [we’re not lovers].” Asked whether they own a business together, Calugay said, “No, not even one.”
Shown photos of them wearing campaign shirts and attending a victory caravan after the 2022 election, Calaguay said the shirt was just his nightwear.
Alice Guo once again repeatedly invoked her right to remain silent during the hearing.
Hontiveros slammed Alice for continuing to evade the senators’ queries with regard to her business interests in Tarlac.
Cassandra Ong, who was arrested together with Shiela in Batam, Indonesia, on August 22, made her first appearance at the public hearing.
Ong denied she knew Duan Ren Wu, a fugitive in other countries, but admitted he was her godfather. Wu is linked to the alleged illegal POGO firm Lucky South 99 in Porac, Pampanga.
At the start of the hearing, Hontiveros expressed confidence that the Senate inquiry on POGO-related issues would end as the committee she chairs gets closer to the truth.
“Our hearing on this complicated matter is about to end, and I believe we are getting closer to the truth. I want to share what we have achieved so far: We have identified gaps in border control, the system of granting visas, law enforcement, and birth registration, and now, the government agencies are acting on these aspects,” Hontiveros said in her opening statement in Filipino.
“Our hearings have allowed us to craft an amendment to the AFASA (Anti-Financial Account Scamming Act) — accepted and passed into law — that allows seized assets to be used for victim protection even before the finality of the case,” she added.
“We have exposed the rottenness of POGO, which led to the President’s declaration to ban it forever. We are also crafting amendments to the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act to add “forced criminality” to the definition of human trafficking,” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros remarked that criminal cases are now emerging, and those who exploited the loopholes in the law and took advantage of vulnerable government officials will be held accountable.
“Criminals, abusers, and exploiters will face the consequences of their actions. It’s important to note that the victims are not only Filipinos, Indonesians, or Malaysians but also Chinese. Therefore, it’s not anti-Chinese, it’s anti-criminal,” Hontiveros said.
Alice Guo, Shiela Guo, Cassandra Ong and Calugay were all present at Tuesday’s hearing.
Meanwhile, Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian called for further investigation into the money trail, where it came from, and who brought in or remitted billions of dollars that entered the country without the government’s ability to trace it.
Gatchalian commended the authorities for their successful operations against POGOs in Bamban and Porac but said further investigation of the money trail was needed.
“Our investigation is not yet over because we need to know who remitted the billions of monies that entered our country,” Gatchalian said in Filipino.
“This is a big reason we should be worried because it is very easy to bring money into our country that our government does not detect, and the money is used illegally. Now, we caught it in POGO, human trafficking, scamming, but this money can also be used for illegal drugs, kidnapping, and our countrymen can also become victims,” he added.
Toward the end of the hearing, Sen. Ronald de la Rosa arrived and asked the chair to be allowed to ask a few questions.
In Filipino, he asked Alice Guo: “Retired general Villanueva earlier said that a former PNP chief received monthly payroll from you. Can I know who this former chief PNP is? I am concerned because I am a former chief PNP, and a script might come out claiming that Bato gets money from you.”
Guo said nothing of the sort was happening.
De la Rosa also asked Guo whether they had ever met, and Guo said the first time she saw him in person was when she appeared at the Senate hearings.
De la Rosa also asked Pagcor’s Villanueva about the identity of the former PNP chief in question.
“I don’t have any confirmation, but I’m sure you’re not the one, I think,” Villanueva said.
