Sen. Risa Hontiveros on Wednesday ordered the arrest of suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo and seven others to compel their attendance in the next Senate hearing into illegal Philippine offshore gaming operations (POGOs).
Earlier the same day, the chairperson of the Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality cited in contempt Guo and the aforementioned seven, including five of her family members, for failure to attend the hearing.
It was the second time Guo skipped the hearing, citing mental health problems.
In a letter sent to Hontiveros, Guo noted that pressures due malicious accusations being hurled against her has taken a toll on her health. She has also been receiving death threats.
Hontiveros and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian, who led the five-hour hearing, rejected Guo’s alibi.
Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Estrada said a government or Senate doctor can check on her condition before she testifies in the next hearing yet to be scheduled.
Also to be arrested are Guo’s biological mother Wenyi Lin and father Jian Zhong Guo, brothers Seimen Guo and Wesley Guo, sister Shiela Guo, and Nancy Gamo and Dennis Cunanan.
The committee will also issue subpoenas to 15 others.
In the same hearing, Gatchalian revealed it is not true that Guo did not have any formal schooling and had schooling under Teacher Rubilyn.
He also divulged that Guo Hua Ping, the mayor’s real name, studied in the same school in Quezon City he attended.
Showing Guo’s school records, Gatchalian noted that she was enrolled from Grades 1 to 3 at Grace Christian High School from 2000 to 2003.
“In my recollection, there is no farm there, just buildings,” Gatchalian told the committee.
The senator said attached to Guo’s school records is her Alien Certificate of Registration (ACR) written in Chinese and translated in English. It showed the mayor was born in Fujian, China, on July 7, 1999.
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