4 teams still tracking down Guo, six others with links to POGOs
The Senate has arrested Nancy Gamo, the accountant of suspended Bamban Mayor Alice Guo, on Saturday.
The arrest came hours after the Senate deployed four teams to serve arrest warrants against Guo, who was cited in contempt after she failed to appear at hearings in connection with the ongoing probe on illegal POGOs, and six other individuals, including Gamo.
The arrest order covered five of the mayor’s family members — her biological parents Wenyi Lin and Jian Zhong Guo, her brothers Seimen Guo and Wesley Guo and sister Shiela Guo — as well as the former head of the now defunct Technology and Livelihood Resource Center Dennis Cunanan.
The tracker teams, however, failed to locate Guo and the six other individuals.
Gamo underwent a medical checkup after she was brought to the Senate where she will stay pending the resumption of the hearing on the illegal activities of POGOs.
Gamo was reported to be in good medical condition after she was nabbed at about past 1 p.m. One of the tracker teams from Office of the Senate Sergeant at Arms (OSAA), which was accompanied by a police contingent, failed to find Mayor Guo at her given address at the QJJ Farm in Bamban.
Two teams went to a garment factory in Marilao, Bulacan but failed to serve the warrant to Wesley, Shiela and Seimen Guo.
The teams were also barred entry from the garments factory identified with the Guos in Valenzuela City. A separate team also failed to locate Cunanan.
The mayor failed to attend the June 26 and July 10 hearings of the Committee on Women, Children, Family Relations and Gender Equality chaired by Senator Risa Hontiveros.
“Their testimony is critical so they need to attend,” Hontiveros said.
Hontiveros said the eight were ordered to appear before her committee on July 29.
Guo’s legal counsel, Stephen David, said she will surrender when her mental state is stable, adding that his client is already consulting with a doctor.
Guo’s lawyers filed a petition for certiorari before the Supreme Court Wednesday to block the invitations and subpoena of the Senate panel.
The suspended mayor also asked the high court to direct the Senate committee to desist from inviting her to attend the hearing.
Her lawyers said Guo has already been tagged as a “spy” and “POGO operator” during the hearings.
“Her Constitutionally guaranteed freedoms and rights have been repeatedly violated, ignored, and/or disregarded,” Guo’s lawyers said.
The arrest warrants came a few days after the Court of Appeals issued a freeze order on the assets of Guo and other key individuals linked to illegal POGOs.
Key individuals covered by the freeze order include Zhiyang Huang and Baoying Lin, who are suspected of orchestrating human trafficking and fraudulent activities through entities such as Zun Yuan Technology Inc., BAOFU Land Development Inc., and Hongsheng Gaming Technology Inc.
Hontiveros also directed the OSAA to serve subpoenas to the following individuals who were likewise ordered to appear before the Senate: Jaimielyn S. Cruz, Roderick Paul B. Pujante, Juan Miguel Alpa, Katherine Cassandra Li Ong, Alberto Rodulfo De La Serna, Ronelyn B. Baterna, Michael Bryce B. Mascarenas, Stephanie B. Mascarenas, Rodrigo A. Bande, Jing Gu, Xiang Tan, Daniel Salcedo Jr., Chona A. Alejandre, Duanren Wu, Marion Ryan O. Chua, Julian M. Linsangan III, Josefina Mascarenas, and Edwin C. Ang.
