A money laundering complaint is ready to be filed against dismissed Mayor Alice L. Guo of Bamban, Tarlac and her sister Shiela, the Department of Justice (DOJ) disclosed on Thursday, Aug. 29.
DOJ Undersecretary Nicholas Felix L. Ty, during an interview on PTV’s Bagong Pilipinas Ngayon, said: “Baka bukas o sa isang linggo ay masasampahan na s’ya ng kaso ng money laundering kasama si Alice Guo at madami pang ibang indibidwal (maybe tomorrow or next week the money laundering case against Shiela, Alice and several others will be filed).”
Earlier, the DOJ filed before the Pasay City courts cases against Shiela for for disobedience to summons issued by the Senate in violation of Article 150 of the Revised Penal Code (RPC); and for using a fake Philippine passport in violation of Section 22, paragraph (b)(2) of Republic Act (RA) No. 11983, the Philippine Passport Act.
Alice has been charged before the DOJ with qualified trafficking in persons complaint filed by the Philippine National Police-Criminal Investigation and Detection Group (PNP-CIDG) and the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC) in connection with the reported criminal activities of a POGO in Bamban.
The Bureau of Internal Revenue (BIR) also filed before the DOJ a case against Alice for alleged violation of the National Internal Revenue Code (NIRC), particularly, reported attempt to evade or defeat tax under Section 255 and failure to file capital gains tax and documentary stamp tax under Section 250.
Despite Shiela’s testimony before the Senate, Ty said it is still too early for the DOJ to consider her as a state witness.
Ty said DOJ Secretary Jesus Crispin C. Remulla himself stated during the Senate budget hearing on Wednesday, Aug. 28, that “sinabi n’ya hindi s’ya naniniwala sa mga sinabi ni Shiela Guo (he said he does not believe what Shiela narrated).”
Meanwhile, Ty said the DOJ is eyeing filing an administrative case before the Supreme Court (SC) or the Integrated Bar of the Philippines (IBP) against the lawyers of Alice.
Though Shiela testified before the Senate the she and her sister left the Philippines via boat last July, her lawyers filed before the DOJ last Aug. 16 a motion seeking to re-open the conduct of the preliminary investigation of the qualified trafficking in persons case against Alice.
The motion included Alice’s counter-affidavit in response to the allegations.
The counter-affidavit indicated that she personally appeared and swore before the notary public, lawyer Elmer Galicia, the authenticity of her statements.
As to Galicia, Ty said “maaari s’yang managot ng kriminal para sa falsification at mananagot rin s’ya ng administratibo sa Korte Suprema dahil tayong mga abogado ay may mga obligasyon bilang mga abogado (he may face a criminal case of falsification and an administrative case before the SC because we have obligations as lawyers).”
“Pero hindi namin ililimit sa notaryo na ‘to dahil sa tingin namin ‘yung mga abogado ni Alice Guo mismo sa preliminary investigation at ‘yung kanyang tagapagsalita ay dapat pasagutin din ng kasong administratibo (But we will not limit it to the notary because we believe Alice Guo’s lawyers at the preliminary investigation and her spokesperson must also be held accountable administratively),” he said.
Ty reminded that the lawyers submitted the falsified counter-affidavit.
“‘Yung tagapagsalita naman n’ya, s’ya naman pinalaganap n’ya ang kwento na nandito pa si Alice Guo sa mga interviews sa kung saan-saan na mga istasyon kaliwa’t kanan (Her spokesperson kept narrating in his media interviews that Alice Guo is still in the Philippines),” added the undersecretary who was referring to lawyer Stephen David.