(UPDATES) DISMISSED Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo posted bail of P540,000 before a Valenzuela City court on Friday but will be transferred to a jail in Pasig City, where she is charged with human trafficking, an offense where no bail is allowed.
Judge Elena Amigo-Amano of the Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court Branch 282 postponed Friday’s arraignment of Guo, after her lawyers filed a motion to quash because the graft cases against her were filed in Capas, Tarlac.
WATCH THE HEAD Police officers surround former Bamban mayor Alice Guo as she arrives at the Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court, where she posted bail on Sept. 20, 2024. PHOTO BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
The judge wanted to detain Guo in a Valenzuela jail in the meantime, but her lawyers insisted she be detained at the custodial facility of the Philippine National Police (PNP), citing security reasons. They then offered to post bail to keep Guo out of the Valenzuela jail.
Her bail, originally set at P180,000, was raised to three times the amount at the request of the prosecution. Hours later, after the bail was raised, the judge allowed Guo to be released.
The PNP confirmed that Guo will be transferred from police custody to the Pasig City jail.
PNP Public Information Office chief Col. Jean Fajardo, in a press briefing in Camp Crame, said the date of her transfer to the Pasig Jail has yet to be announced.
The impending change of custody comes after a Pasig City Regional Trial Court issued a warrant of arrest against Guo in connection with her qualified human trafficking case.
In a four-page order, the Pasig RTC Branch 167 directed the transfer of Guo from the PNP to Pasig City Jail Female Dormitory.
The Pasig RTC granted no bail for Guo and all the other accused, as the charges against them are non-bailable.
Guo and others were charged with violation of the Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2003, as amended by the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2012 and the Expanded Anti-Trafficking in Persons Act of 2022.
She is also facing a graft case before a Valenzuela court and a money laundering complaint before the Department of Justice.
Tarlac Regional Trial Court Branch 109 served a warrant of arrest against Guo last Thursday over her alleged violation of the Anti-Graft and Corrupt Practices Act. However, her graft case was transferred to Valenzuela RTC.
Guo has been detained at the PNP custodial center since her arrival in the country on September 6 after fleeing the country on July 18. She was arrested in Jakarta, Indonesia, on September 4.
The former mayor has been the subject of scrutiny over her alleged ties to a raided Philippine offshore gaming operator (POGO) firm in Bamban town.
Meanwhile, the lawyer representing Cassandra Lim Ong, Guo’s alleged business partner, said he was being harassed for simply exercising his duty to advise his clients of their rights to remain silent or against self-incrimination.
Tight security surrounds dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo (wearing a green helmet) as she arrives at the Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court for her arraignment on Sept. 20, 2024. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
Tight security surrounds dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo (wearing a green helmet) as she arrives at the Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court for her arraignment on Sept. 20, 2024. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
Tight security surrounds dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo (wearing a green helmet) as she arrives at the Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court for her arraignment on Sept. 20, 2024. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
Tight security surrounds dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor Alice Guo (wearing a green helmet) as she arrives at the Valenzuela City Regional Trial Court for her arraignment on Sept. 20, 2024. PHOTOS BY JOHN ORVEN VERDOTE
Ferdinand Topacio’s claims came after the House quad committee cited Ong and Alice Guo in contempt for their continued evasion to answer questions from the members of the panel.
In an interview with reporters, Topacio said that the panel is abusing its contempt powers as they did not follow the injunction that was issued by the Supreme Court.
“If you accuse someone of contempt of the committee, (there should be due process and explain it to them. Contempt results in deprivation of liberty,” Topacio said.
He also does not understand why the committee is not allowing its resource persons to exercise their right to remain silent.
“I want to remind them; they are lawmakers; they are not the law,” he said.
If a person is lying, Topacio said, the best thing to do is to confront the person with evidence proving the contrary of what she is saying instead of citing the person for contempt.
Topacio said that aside from him, lawyers for Guo, led by Stephen David, were now also being intimidated by the panel for “merely exercising their duty to advise their client of their rights.”
“If [the witnesses] approach their lawyers, they are threatening them with contempt; they are warning them. This is the first time in my 32 years of practice and 11 times before appearing in legislative hearings that lawyers are being harassed as well,” he said.
Topacio said that they will write a letter to the committee that will state their legal position that the contempt ruling against their clients is not in accordance with the law.
Meanwhile, the committee has ordered the issuance of a show-cause order to Mylah Roque, the wife of former presidential spokesman Harry Roque, as she continued to ignore invitations to attend the hearings of the panel.
Roque, a former trustee of the Pag-IBIG Fund representing private employers, has been invited to testify regarding her role in signing a lease agreement with Chinese linked to an illegal POGO in Bamban, Tarlac.
The Chinese were arrested during a raid in Benguet in July last year on a property owned by PH2, a subsidiary of Biancham Holdings of the Roque family.
The panel earlier issued an arrest warrant to Roque’s husband for failing to submit documents that were subpoenaed and deemed crucial to the investigation.
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