GUO CASE WELCOMED
SENATORS welcomed the filing of human trafficking charges against Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo.
Senator Risa Hontiveros, who chairs the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality, said she considers the development a victory for the Filipino people and the victims of the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operation (POGO) accused of being actually a criminal syndicate.
“As author and sponsor of the Expanded Trafficking in Person Act, I am pleased to see that this law is not only protecting the vulnerable but also holding power to account. I hope Mayor Guo starts telling the truth. She should stop lying and playing dumb. I still expect her attendance in the next hearing (scheduled this coming June 25, Tuesday)” Hontiveros said.
Senator Loren Legarda chided Guo for inconsistencies in the statements she had been giving to the senators.
Legarda challenged the government to dig deeper in order to know how many Guos are now here in the Philippines, and who are enjoying all privileges, corrupting our officials and living in our country like ordinary Filipino citizen, and who can later run for public office.
She urged authorities to look for more Mayors Guo, similar to the Mayor of Bamban Tarlac, who is also a suspected Chinese infiltrator and whose alleged ties to criminal syndicates is also under investigation.
Senator Gatchalian who refused to divulge more information on other documents which was discovered by his office said he will present more proof in the coming days.
It can be recalled that Gatchalian filed Senate Resolution No. 1053 urging the appropriate Senate panel to investigate the proliferation of fake birth certificates which allow unscrupulous individuals, including foreigners, to secure government-issued IDs, evade immigration laws, and perpetrate crimes.
