Senators on Tuesday, August 27 took turns grilling Shiela Guo, sister of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo, on how she and her siblings fled the Philippines.
But Sen. Ronald “Bato” dela Rosa blew his top after Shiela narrated a sketchy story and told him that she thought she was only accompanying her sister on a trip and that she had no idea why they were fleeing the country.
Dela Rosa said it is very obvious that the latter is lying to the tripartite panel, consisting of the justice and human rights, women and public services committees that is now investigating how she and the former mayor left the Philippines and arrived in Malaysia.
“Halata na nagsisinungaling ka. ‘Wag mo kami lokohin dito! Baka akala mo kung ano ginagawa ni Alice Guo sa komite na ito, kaya mong gawin din (It’s obvious you are lying. Don’t try to fool us. You think that you can do the same thing that Alice Guo did to the committee)?” an irate Dela Rosa told Guo.
“Pasensya (I’m sorry), but you are lying! Makinig ka, wag mo kami lokohin dito. Niloloko mo kami (Listen here, don’t try to fool us! You are trying to fool us here),” the former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief warned.
Prior to Dela Rosa’s outburst, Shiela, who is currently detained at the Senate’s detention facility, narrated how she, Alice Guo and another sibling, Wesley Guo escaped from the Philippines traveling from their farm in Tarlac to the south from dinner time to midnight.
According to Shiela, the three of them were fetched by a van. However, she could not recall the exact date they left the Philippines but only said they left around first week of July of this year.
The Senate Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations, and Gender Equality, chaired by Sen. Risa Hontiveros, and which is leading the investigation into the Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO)-related crimes, had cited Alice Guo and seven (7) others, including Shiela, in contempt last July 10.
The Senate President Francis “Chiz” Escudero subsequently signed an arrest warrant against them.
Hontiveros was the first to disclose that Alice Guo left the country on July 18, travelled to Malaysia, then moved to Singapore where they met their parents. Authorities later confirmed that they monitored Alice Guo moving from Singapore to Indonesia.
In her opening statement during the tripartite hearing, Hontiveros said there was a flight from Denpasar in Bali, Indonesia to Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia via Batik Air 177. She said it is believed that Alice Guo and some members of her party were on that flight but her photo was not captured in the immigration records of Malaysia.
From Singapore, Wesley took the ferry to Batam, Indonesia, on August 16. Alice, Shiela and Cassandra Li Ong, Alice’s alleged business associate, followed Wesley to Indonesia two days later.
Indonesian authorities were able to intercept Shiela and Ong’s movement and helped Philippine authorities repatriate them back to Manila.
“I note that all of them presented Philippine passports before Indonesian immigration. Opo, napaka-kapal po (they were so thick-faced). Passport ng Pilipinas pa ang ginamit (They used Philippine passport). I note this would not have been possible if Alice Guo’s Philippine passport was immediately cancelled following the fingerprint match with Guo Hua Ping who is clearly not Filipino,” Hontiveros said.
When asked about the details of their “escape,” Shiela said they boarded at least three boats. They first boarded a small white boat, a fishing boat that accommodates at least 10 persons to a bigger vessel, then transferred again to a smaller vessel which then brought them to Semporna.
Semporna is Sipadan Island, which Hontiveros noted is part of Sabah, Malaysia.
Dela Rosa, however, said he could not believe that Shiela is not privy to her sister’s plan to escape. The former Philippine National Police (PNP) chief also expressed his belief Shiel does not know the purpose why they had to leave the country when they left that night.
“She only told me she was sad and asked me to accompany her,” said Shiela, to which Dela Rosa replied: “Are you sure you didn’t even ask why you are going to Malaysia via boat when you can leave by airplane?” “Why didn’t you ask why you kept on transferring boats?”
Shiela said she asked her sister but felt helpless in end. “What can I do, can I still go back to the Philippines?”
This prompted Dela Rosa to berate her saying it was obvious Shiela was lying.
“It was clear you didn’t ask your sister why you’re taking the boat and leaving at midnight from here. Then you will tell us you don’t know why you are escaping the Philippines? Tell that to the Marines. Don’t fool us here,” Dela Rosa told Shiela Guo.
“Maybe you think you can fool government officials and just pay them off. Here, you can’t bribe us. Nobody can bribe us even if you Chinese people have millions of money. You can’t bribe us, so don’t fool us,” he added.
Shiela, however, insisted she is not fooling the committee.
When Senate President Pro Tempore Jinggoy Ejercito Estrada pressed Shiela if she knows where Alice is, Shiela said her sister did not tell her anything when they separated in Indonesia last August 19 or 20.
“She just left?” asked Estrada to which Shiela said: “She just told me we have to break for now, sis. When I asked her where she is going, she told me I don't have to find out.”
According to Shiela, she and Wesley had plans to go back to Singapore before going to Hong Kong. However, she and Ong were then arrested in Indonesia on August 21 and were sent back to the Philippines on August 22.
Also during the hearing, Shiela explained to the senators that she and Alice did not grow up together, and only got acquainted with Alice when she was 17 years old. She said her father Angelito Guo, not her biological father, introduced her to Alice as her sister then.
Shiela informed the panel that her mother is Amelia Leal, but Hontiveros and Sen. Sherwin Gatchalian noted discrepancies in her birth documents. Shiela also admitted she was born in China and that she arrived in the Philippines in 2001.
Shiela Guo is currently detained at the Senate, while Ong is now in the custody of the House of Representatives.