For Senate Deputy Minority Leader Risa Hontiveros, the discovery of having not just two Alice Guo, but also the existence of two Shiela Guo is alarming.
Hontiveros pointed this out on Wednesday, August 28 following the National Bureau of Investigation’s (NBI) discovery that Shiela Leal Guo and a Chinese national named Zhang Mier were indeed the same person.
The NBI earlier also confirmed that the former mayor has the same fingerprints of Guo Hua Ping, also a Chinese national.
Recalling the NBI’s presentation, Hontiveros also took note of an NBI clearance that allegedly belonged to one Shiela Leal Guo, but showed a different photo.
During the Tuesday’s tripartite hearing of the Senate committees on women and children, transportation, public order, Shiela herself admitted that she was born in China and that Alice, the dismissed Bamban, Tarlac mayor, is not her biological sister.
And just like Alice, Shiela Guo has the same birthday with the person on the NBI clearance.
“So like Alice Guo…Is this another case of stolen identity?” Hontiveros said in a televised interview on Unang Balita.
“False information, different photos, but they have same date of application, same application date for delayed birth registration. Both of them had their NBI records applied on Nov. 3, 2005 and the next day Nov. 4 was their application for delayed birth registration,” she pointed out.
Furthermore, NBI records of Shiela and Alice have the same address in Project 8, Quezon City, Hontiveros noted. The two Guos also declared Tarlac as their place of birth.
“Is it a coincidence that there are two Alice Leal Guos who were born on July 12, 1986 in Tarlac? Is it a coincidence that this NBI clearance was applied for just a few days before the date of filing of the delayed registration of birth of the other Alice Leal Guo in Tarlac City? Or is this a case of stolen identity?" Hontiveros asked.
When asked if she believes Shiela’s account on how she, Alice and brother Wesley Guo left the country, Hontiveros said it is obvious that Shiela is hiding pertinent information.
“She admitted some things that checks out with the information we previously gathered. But there are still some things she said that are questionable,” the lawmaker said.
“She may still be hiding something and we still detected some lies. It’s hard to believe that she had absolutely no idea where they were going. It’s also hard to believe that he doesn’t know why she signed so many documents of their businesses,” she pointed out.
Hontiveros said Shiela Guo may have been lying, oblivious or just plain ignorant.
“But as I said, even though their parents falsified their documents when they were young, they have long been adults now and are very able to correct those wrongs. Either way, whatever she says, if it doesn’t match the evidence, she will still be held liable,” added the senator.
“These people are not saints. Their own colleagues, who are said to be family members, were left in the air, and it looks like Shiela will take all the blame until Alice Guo is caught,” she noted.
Hontiveros said she hopes Shiela Guo would not allow herself to be used and accommodate such set up and choose to cooperate with Philippine authorities instead.
“I call on Shiela not to agree and be used by these stronger forces and to cooperate with the authorities. It’s not too late,” she said.