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Can Alice Guo become a state witness?

Victoria Tulad

ABS-CBN News

MANILA — For the Presidential Anti-Organized Crime Commission (PAOCC), Bamban, Tarlac Mayor Alice Guo is one of the principal characters in the operations of the illegal Philippine Offshore Gaming Operators (POGOs) who should be held responsible. However, it is still possible for her to become a state witness if she discloses vital information.PAOCC spokesperson Winston Casio said in a Teleradyo Serbisyo interview, “She would not qualify at this point to be among the least guilty… unless maituro niya, halimbawa, kung meron bang nag-facilitate sa problemang ito? May mga tumulong ba sa kanila na kasalukuyan o di kaya dating mga opisyal ng gobyerno? O di kaya maituro niya sa atin kung paano pumasok ‘yung pera na naging dahilan para mabuo ‘yung Baofu compound… Maaaring mag-qualify po.”(She would not qualify at this point to be among the least guilty… unless she says, for example, if someone facilitated this problem? Did a former or current government official help them? Or if she can point to how the money creating the Baofu compound came in… She can qualify.)Casio added that Guo can also enter into a plea bargain agreement where she will plead guilty for a lighter offense.“Puwede naman ‘yun (That is allowed). Again that would be left to the prosecution team…what would be the components or elements of the deal?”For Senator Sherwin Gatchalian, however, it is hard to say that Guo can be a state witness even if she divulges what she knows.“That’s a legal question na iiwan natin sa lawyers, very technical ‘yan eh ‘yang pagiging state witness. Depende ‘yan sa information na hawak ng gobyerno, depende rin ‘yan sa information na ibibigay ni Guo Hua Ping,” Gatchalian said in an interview on Friday.(That’s a legal question that we will leave with the lawyers, that’s very technical being a state witness. That will depend on the information that the government has and the information that Guo Hua Ping will give.)Guo Hua Ping is the Chinese national believed to be the real identity of Mayor Guo.Gatchalian is also leaving the matter of a plea bargain agreement to state lawyers.“It’s a legal question,” Gatchalian said.He warned parties, however, to be careful given the alleged lies of Guo.“Alam natin na napakagaling siyang magsinungaling at marami pang ebidensiyang  lalabas later on na magpapatunay kung gaano siya kagaling magsinungaling. So in that case ‘yung kanyang information na ibibigay pwede bang pagkatiwalaan ‘yun? Baka magsinungaling lang siya para mapababa ‘yung kanyang sentensiya.”(We know that she is good at lying and there is still a lot of evidence that will come out to prove how good she is at lying. So in that case, can we trust the information that she will give? She might just lie to lower her sentence.)<div>WESLEY GUO</div>Gatchalian said the Bureau of Immigration (BI) must upgrade its technology to better detect if a person is using various passports as with the case of Wesley Guo, the brother of Mayor Guo, who is alleged to be the Chinese national Guo Xiang Dian.Wesley has supposedly used both his Chinese and Philippine passports in the past years.“‘Yan ang dapat ma-improve ng ating Bureau of Immigration, ‘yung matching ng identities, ginagawa na ‘yan ng maraming bansa. Di ba sa ibang bansa nga wala nang passport facial recognition na lang lalabas na yung pangalan mo…(9:21) Ginagamit niya yung passport niya interchangeably, for at least two or three years pero hindi lumalabas ‘yung match pala na iisang tao lang. It goes to show na mahina pa yung ating teknolohiya.”(That is what the Bureau of Immigration should improve, the matching of identities which is already being done in several countries. In other countries they use facial recognition, not passports…Wesley used his passport interchangeably for at least two or three years but it was not flagged to have matched as one person. It goes to show that our technology is still weak.)Gatchalian said they are already requesting for documents from the Board of Investments on Sheila and Seimen Guo, the other siblings of Mayor Guo, to also do fingerprint matching on them.The senator wants to question Mayor Guo’s siblings on what they allegedly know about the illegal POGO activities.He meanwhile congratulated the Office of the Solicitor General (OSG) for filing a petition to cancel the certificate of live birth of Guo.“I congratulate OSG for doing that dahil ‘yan ‘yung first step ma-cancel ang birth certificate ng apat na magkakapatid in this particular case. So kapag nag-cancel ‘yan may domino effect na ‘yung kanyang quo warranto susunod na ‘yan para matanggal siya sa kanyang puwesto, COMELEC can also use that kasi nga may misrepresentation na ginawa.(I congratulate OSG for doing that because that is the first step to cancel the birth certificate of the four siblings in this particular case. So when that is cancelled, there will be a domino effect with the quo warranto, she will be removed from her position. Comelec can also use that because there was misrepresentation.)Gatchalian said the Department of Foreign Affairs should also cancel Guo’s passport.Senator Risa Hontiveros said the OSG’s move is justified.“Our Senate investigation has shown that Mayor Alice Guo’s birth certificate is irregular,” Hontiveros said in a statement.“Mayor Guo is already backed into a corner. If I were her, I would cut my losses and expose the architects of this large-scale scam enterprise,” she added.Hontiveros urged Guo to attend the Senate hearing on July 10.

For the PAOCC, Bamban Mayor Alice Guo is one of the principal characters in the operations of the illegal POGOs who should be held responsible, but it is still possible for her to become a state witness.

For the PAOCC, Bamban Mayor Alice Guo is one of the principal characters in the operations of the illegal POGOs who should be held responsible, but it is still possible for her to become a state witness.