For Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, it's too early to declare if Shiela Guo, the supposed sibling of dismissed Bamban, Tarlac City Mayor Alice Guo could be a state witness in the government’s investigation into the illegal activities of Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGO) in the country.
"Maaga pa para sabihin kung puwede siya maging state witness kasi di sya nagsasabi ng kumpletong detalye. Base kasi sa dokumento na ipinakita nga natin, sentro siya sa mga aktibidad at sa mga pinipirmahan niyang mga dokumento (It's too early to say if she is eligible to become a state witness since she doesn't provide complete details. Based on documents shown to us, she's in the center of their activities and in the documents she's signed)," Gatchalian said on Thursday, Aug. 29 in the Kapihan sa Senado public briefing.
"So just based on the documents alone meron siyang alam. Pero kung gaano kalalim yung alam niya yun ang maaga pa para masabi ngayon (So just based on the documents alone, she knows something. But it's too early to say how deeply involved she is)," he added.
In the data provided by Gatchalian, Shiela is listed as the corporate secretary based on the General Information Sheet (GIS) filed with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), but she also signed in other documents like the Annual Financial Statements (AFS) as Chief Financial Officer or treasurer in some of the companies like QJJ Farm and QJJ Embroidery.
He has already pointed out in the previous hearing that the presence of these documents contradicts Shiela's statement that she's not entirely involved with her family's activities.
"Ang pananaw ko dyan kung gagawin siyang state witness ang gusto natin magsabi siya ng impormasyon o magsabi siya ng nalalaman niya tungkol kay Alice Guo at sa ginagawang di magaganda ni Alice Guo lalong-lalo na yung relasyon ni Alice Guo sa POGO (For me if she would become a state witness, we would want her to provide information regarding Alice Guo and her illicit activities especially her relationship to POGOs)," he said.
But he stated that this may be difficult to do since both Shiela and Alice have the same lawyer and given this circumstance, he doubts if Shiela would say anything against Alice.
Department of Justice (DOJ) Undersecretary Nicholas Felix Ty said on Wednesday, Aug. 28, that Shiela is qualified to be a state witness.
But as far as he is concerned, a case must be filed against Shiela before she can be considered a state witness.
Money laundering
Gatchalian expressed his belief that the personalities linked with the Guo family and corporations were used to launder the money used to construct POGO hubs.
"Yung kita nung mga kumpanya ng Guo, yung QJJ Farm, Inc. and QJJ Embroidery Center Inc. in particular, hindi nagtutugma doon sa perang pumapasok sa kanilang bank accounts (The Guo companies' revenue like QJJ Farm, Inc. and QJJ Embroidery Center Inc. in particular does not correspond to the money going into their bank accounts)," he said.
For him, he thinks that the money used to construct the Bamban POGO hub came from QJJ Farm, Inc.
"Yung perang ginamit para ipatayo yung POGO hub sa Bamban, nanggaling sa QJJ Farm, Inc. in particular. So hindi farming yung negosyo nun, construction yung negosyo nito, yun ang hinala ko dahil obviously cinonstruct niya yung POGO hub sa Bamban (The money used to construct the POGO hub in Bamban, came from QJJ Farm, Inc. in particular. So this corporation is not into farming, but in the construction business since it obviously constructed the POGO hub in Bamban, that's what I suspect)," he said.
He explained that QJJ Farm, Inc. for example, only earned P1 million or P2 million in the span of 10 years but the amount that entered the company's bank account was almost P4 billion.
"Eto yung pera na hinahanap natin kasi kung natatandaan niyo nung una pa lang, ang tinatanong natin kung paano napatayo yung POGO hub sa Bamban dahil wala tayong makita sa financial statements, (This is the money that we've been looking for because if you can remember from the beginning, we were asking how the POGO hub in Bamban was constructed because we cannot see anything from the financial statements)," Gatchalian said.
"Pero ngayon nakikita na natin na pumapasok diretso sa kumpanya ng QJJ Farm tapos gayundin sa QJJ Embroidery na halos lugi pero yung pera na pumapasok halos P500 million (But now, we can see that it directly goes to QJJ Farm, the same with QJJ Embroidery that despite incurring losses, there's P500 million that entered it)," he added.
In the previous hearing, the Anti-Money Laundering Council (AMLC) said that it would be filing a case this week which according to the senator, would reveal the personalities, corporations as well as bank accounts that are involved.